Like many others, I joined in the 2- hour podcast listening of New Heights with Travis and Jason Kelce featuring special guest, Taylor Swift.

I know this is gonna get me some "hate, hate, hate", but I'm not at Swiftie. I've never jumped on the Swiftie bandwagon. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate her music and talents. It's just not my thing. If one of her songs comes on, sure, I'll bop my head along. However, I don't seek out her albums and I don't fan girl over her. (Give me some ____ and that's a different story.) I also don't tend to get caught up in celebrity hype. I'm glad they are happy together. It's a great love story and these days, we all need a great love story.

Here's the thing - Taylor Swift is a master at intentional marketing ... or relationship building. She knows how to connect with her millions of audience members. As I read many comments, I learned it's rare for her to be so open and candid about her career and life, especially as this is her first podcast interview. That blew my mind.

As I listened, I threw on my marketing brain, and here are some nuggets I took away from the conversation. I thought they could be helpful to you as any solopreneur can achieve these marketing tricks!

Let's get into it!

PEOPLE GOT BEHIND THE STORY (25:19)

Jason noted "you sold a story with the second time you released this album, right? And the fans got behind that narrative and they're like, "Screw the first album. We're roll we're rolling with the re-recorded album because we're supporting the artist." It wasn't the remaking of the albums - it was the STORY about the remaking of the albums. People support people. Stories Sell. I was shocked at the whole new fanbase she gained from remaking her albums. My friends, who never talked about Taylor, were now having "friendship bracelet" parties. Girls, women, queers, men and however people identify, were in on the action. They wanted her to succeed because of her story.

Lesson: TELL YOUR STORY. Get vulnerable. Share the good, bad and ugly ... and the love story!

NOBODY THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA (24:40)

Taylor noted that no one had ever re-recorded their album. People thought she was crazy for doing it. Yet, she did it. See how it turned out? Just because no one is doing it or people think it's not a good idea, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. If you are all in on the idea and think it has leverage.

Lesson: Who cares - DO THE THING!

PRIORTIZING THE FAN EXPERIENCE (31:49)

I have three points here ....

1. Taylor quotes "And it's really just like prioritizing the fans experience before before anything else." She mentions fans multiple times throughout the conversation. Why? BECAUSE IT'S for the FANS! She doesn't do it for her, she does it for the fans. To entertain THEM. She loves what she does because WHO she's doing it for. It's the same with your customers and clients. Are you priortizing them through your content and customer journey? How are you making it about THEM? That's how you create Swifties and friendship bracelets. That's how you create community. She notes later in the interview about the "traditions" fans would create throughout the tour. She had no idea. It's about the experience and creating a movement together. That's when the real change happens in your business.

2. Along these same lines, from a very young age in her career, she created moments for the fans. Not only was it an experience ON STAGE, but also off stage through her social media. She would plant clues in social posts, video releases, or pretty much anything she did. This gave her fans an opportunity to connect and decipher each clue. It makes it fun for her AND her fans - leading again to a powerful community. (She also noted, that it doesn't deter from the experience for the people who don't care to investigate the Easter Eggs.)

3. "My business is is making music and taking care of my fans and I have ways of monitoring what they want from me and how best to entertain them, which is my job. Yeah. And everything else, I'm just sort of like, it's not my business. I have actual business that I need to run." Basically - don't care about the "stuff" - set up your systems to monitor what is important to your customers / clients. The rest of it is just stuff.

Lesson: Create an Experience for your customers / clients. Prioritize them in your content and journey. Measure only what matters. Forget the rest.

ALWAYS BE SELLING

Like announcing a new album! She's always talking about her music, how to get it and new album releases. She's always selling. Selling isn't bad. It's your business! Talk about it. If you're priortizing your fans, then selling shouldn't feel gross or bad. It's helping the people you serve have an experience or transformation.

Lesson: always be selling! :)

DEALING WITH SOCIAL MEDIA ATTENTION (1:18:45)

"How do you guys handle all of the noise and chatter about everything that's going on in both of your lives?"

Response: I'm of the firm belief that like you know if you're basing your kind of if you're getting your feedback from the internet or from comments and stuff like I just really think that like anything you put anything you feed your brain it will internalize. Anything you feed the internet it will kill."

This whole conversation is fascinating and do recommend a quick listen to this portion of the conversation between the three of them. Social media is a lot and when you spend a lot of time on it as a business person, it can overwhelm you.

That's why it's important to have your systems in place. Put a blocker on the amount of time you scroll. We think as Solopreneurs we need to spend all of our tiime on the socials. We don't though. We can use schedulers (Metricool) and auto responsders (Many Chat) along with other tools to simplify our time on socials. I have a friend who spend almost every waking minute on her socials - I can tell. If you feel it's overwhelming, it's time to come up with a system to promote your business and spend less time on the Internet and more time with real people.

Hey guess what! That's what I can help you with in your business - strategy and sytems to spend less time stressing about your marketing, less time on the Internet and more time doing what you love!

Lesson: Social media isn't real life. Nor do you need to spend your whole real life on social media.

As I don't want this post to be super insanely long, here's a rapid fire version of the rest of the points:

CREATE FROM WITHIN, NOT with AI (1:28:36)

While she doesn't explicitly state it, you can infer that she's not using AI to write her music or create her concepts. It's all from within her. You have it in you, too! I'm not saying don't use AI. It has its place. Just don't use AI to create!

IT'S NOT PART OF MY METRICS FOR MY SELF WORTH (47:58)

Know what matters to you and forget the rest. You don't have to do it all and you don't have to be perfect at everything you try. You don't need to be like others - measure what matters to you in your business. Your self worth matters as a Solopreneur.

COLLABORATION OVER COMPETITION (18:38)

There's always some there to help you. Even people who are in the same business as you. Collaboration makes the world more powerful. Call on people to work with you, not against you.

SET LOFTY GOALS (32:20)

Learn how far you can push yourself for customers / clients - you may surprise yourself and live your "wildest dreams"! Plus, be proud of your work. When you push your limits and achieve your goals, remember to take some time to celebrate and be proud of it.

EVEN FAMOUS PEOPLE GET NERVOUS (57:34)

This isn't unique to you! Push the nerves and do it anyways. Shake it off .. just shake it off.

GREEN FLAGS (1:03:19)

We are good at always noticing the "red flags", but how often do you notice the "green flags" whether that comes to your relationships, business opportunties, etc. Look for your green flags and trust they are there for a reason.

LEADERSHIP (1:08:24)

"....Lose your Sh*t, you lose your leadership" .... this was in reference to Andy Reid. Basically, it can be hard to manage your emotions, but it's important to everyone around you.

LOVE WHAT YOU DO .... (1:59:03)

"I love it, I adore what I do. I absolutely love it."

The most important part of running a business is to love what you do. Otherwise, people will catch on. It shows in your marketing and sales. Do you love it too?

There's a few other things, but I'll leave it there for now.

To sum it all up, you don't have to follow specific rules when it comes to marketing your business. Be You. Have Fun and Enjoy the Ride. Priortize your Customers. Always be Selling.

You never know what love story you can create with your business.

Did you listen to the interview? What did you think? Share your thoughts with me!