Picture this: tens thousands of fans screaming from the top of their lungs for more content from you, the B2B marketer.

It may sound more like how people react to superstars like Taylor Swift; there are tactics she uses in her branding that inspire intense fandom, like how Swifties can wear red lipstick, make beaded bracelets or decode hidden messages in her Instagram posts to own a bit of her brand for themselves. It’s all a part of a culture that Taylor Swift and her team of amazing marketers have meticulously cultivated over time. But who’s to say B2B marketers can’t borrow a bit of that marketing magic?

In this episode, we’re turning to the artist with more #1 albums than any other woman in history: Taylor Swift, and seeing what new B2B marketing ideas we can learn from her. What about her brand has inspired such passion; the kind of passion that is expected to bring in more than $1 billion in ticket sales from her current tour? Joining us is Senior Director of Content Marketing at Lob, Kim Courvoisier. Together, we’re talking about the marketing behind Taylor Swift’s record-breaking tour, creating a shareable brand, and refreshing content to give your audience even more value. So layer on your Swifty bracelets and maybe a little something sparkly for this episode of Remarkable.

About Lob

Lob is the only direct mail automation platform for the digital age. Lob's platform automates the direct mail execution process for enterprises at any scale - from creation, printing, postage, delivery, and sustainability with end-to-end analytics and campaign attribution. Over 12,000 businesses trust Lob to transform their direct mail into intelligent mail. Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, Lob is venture-backed by Y Combinator, Polaris Partners, Floodgate, and First Round Capital.

About Taylor Swift and The Eras Tour

Taylor Swift is an American singer-songwriter who has more #1 albums than any other woman in history after her album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)” debuted at #1. The 33-year-old artist from Pennsylvania who was originally known for country music is known for her musical versatility and reinventing herself as an artist. As a cultural figure, she has had several high-profile news stories, including her dispute with Big Machine Records over ownership of the masters of her first 6 studio albums which led to her re-recording all of them, and another legal battle with Apple in 2015 over protecting artists’ rights to fair compensation for their work. She currently has 10 albums, and has sold 114 million albums worldwide. She’s won 12 Grammys, 19 Billboard Music Awards (the most of any woman), 40 American Music Awards, and more. She has many trademarks, including hiding messages in her content, frequently using the number 13, wearing red lipstick, and going barefoot. Her fans call themselves Swifties.

The Eras Tour is a journey through all of Taylor Swift’s studio albums. It’s 131 concerts across five continents, and is expected to be the highest grossing tour in history. Tickets bring in more than $13 million a night, for an expected $1 billion+ overall. The average ticket costs $254. The Philadelphia Federal Reserve even reported that the tour is boosting economic growth, specifically related to hotel revenue. Taylor Swift has a 44-song set list and the concert is 3-hours long. The tour started on March 17th in Glendale, Arizona which was officially renamed “Swift City” for two days. The tour will wrap up on November 23rd, 2024 in Toronto.

About our guest, Kim Courvoisier

Kim Courvoisier is the Senior Director of Content Marketing at Lob, the only direct mail automation platform for the digital age. Kim is an experienced senior-level digital marketing leader with over 12 years of experience in SaaS marketing, specializing in B2B and B2C content marketing, social media, email marketing, customer lifecycle marketing, AI, and SEO. She is based in San Francisco, California.

What B2B Companies Can Learn From Taylor Swift and The Eras Tour:

Re-use, recycle, repurpose your classic content. Look back at your past marketing content that did really well and see if you can get more juice out of it. Kim says, “A lot of times, I'll write an ebook, and it's like, ‘Okay, that was great for that campaign. Moving on,’ And I'm like, ‘No, no, no. That's all perfectly relevant content. We should reuse that, we should recycle it, we should repurpose that.’ And that's exactly what Taylor Swift is doing when she is re-releasing these albums because she's now driving eyeballs or ears back to that content.” So make the most of the content you’ve invested time and effort in in the past, and refresh it to give your customers added value today.
Create a shareable culture around your brand. For Swifties, it’s making beaded bracelets, wearing the number 13, going barefoot, putting on red lipstick. And it inspires fans to create their own content or even make their own bracelets and sell them. Kim says, “It's helping this whole little generation become entrepreneurs, which I think is so incredible. I talk about marketing and [Taylor isn’t] keeping it for herself. She's sharing it with everyone, and I think there's no greater power as a marketer than to empower others. And she's absolutely doing that.” So extend your brand to include free elements that fans can own, get added value from, and make their own.

Quotes

“If your content isn't adding value, then you're just creating more noise.” - Kim Courvoisier

“When [Taylor Swift] re-releases an album, she actually adds new content to it. Like content from the vault that wasn't on the original edition. And so it's adding more value. So that would be like if I took an old ebook that I had written and then put on an extra bonus chapter and re-released it. So I think there's a ton of lessons we can learn as marketers to go back and refresh and repurpose our content. And I get a ton of inspiration from that.” - Kim Courvoisier

Time Stamps

[0:54] Meet Kim Courvoisier, Senior Director of Content Marketing at Lob

[1:32] Why are we covering Taylor Swift?

[4:04] Tell me more about Taylor Swift

[10:32] Learn more about the record-breaking Eras Tour

[16:54] How do you create a shareable culture?

[22:39] What are marketing lessons we can learn from The Eras Tour?

[24:58] How to repurpose classic content and give your audience added value

[33:55] How to make content appeal to people who aren’t currently in the “buying mode”

[36:34] How does Kim think about the ROI of content?

[42:57] What are Kim’s favorite pieces of content she’s made at Lob?

[45:15] Tell me more about Lob’s 2023 State of Direct Mail and Consumer Insights Reports

Links

Listen to Taylor Swift

Learn more about The Eras Tour

Connect with Kim on LinkedIn

Learn more about Lob

About Remarkable!

Remarkable! is created by the team at Caspian Studios, the premier B2B Podcast-as-a-Service company. Caspian creates both non-fiction and fiction series for B2B companies. If you want a fiction series check out our new offering - The Business Thriller - Hollywood style storytelling for B2B. Learn more at CaspianStudios.com.

In today’s episode, you heard from Ian Faison (CEO of Caspian Studios), Colin Stamps (Podcast Launch Manager), and Meredith Gooderham (Senior Producer). Remarkable was produced this week by Meredith O’Neil, mixed by Scott Goodrich, and our theme song is “Solomon” by FALAK.

Create something remarkable. Rise above the noise.

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