Taylor Swift is a comms strategy you can replicate

Our PR and Social Media Executive Bea Widdup is not really a Taylor Swift fan. But she is a huge fan of the pop star’s brand. Here she explores how the “Swiftie” effect is an excellent playbook for PR teams looking to supercharge comms.

Taylor Swift isn’t just a global pop star – she’s a multi-industry economic engine with the kind of influence politicians, brands and CEOs fantasise about in strategy meetings.

Her tours boost national GDPs. Her local appearances spike hotel bookings, flights, restaurant reservations and merch sales.

She shifts political sentiment with a single repost. And she does it all without a traditional ad campaign or even a heavy reliance on paid media.

She is the comms blueprint everyone is pretending they understand – but very few brands are applying.

So why is Swift an economic strategy now? And what’s she doing that the average brand is completely missing?

Let’s break it down.

It’s not about reach – it’s about resonance

Taylor doesn’t communicate at people. She communicates with them.

Her fans don’t feel like an audience; they feel like a community.

And community-driven communication is the currency every business should be chasing in 2025 and beyond.

When she announced The Eras Tour, she didn’t rely on glossy ads. She used symbolism, storytelling, Easter eggs, nostalgia and emotional continuity – essentially IP that feels like a relationship.

That’s what PR at its best does, it builds a narrative people feel part of.

Most brands, meanwhile, broadcast. They throw content into the void. They promote product features. They talk about themselves more than they listen. And then they wonder why engagement is flat. Swifties engage because they feel ownership of the story. They co-create the hype.

If you want your content to land, don’t just inform people – involve them.

Why fanbases beat ad spend

Taylor has one of the most powerful organic reach engines on Earth because she has something ad budgets can’t buy… devotion.

A brand spends £500k on a campaign hoping for attention. Taylor posts a cryptic emoji, and the internet detonates.

This is because:

• Fanbases create amplification, not algorithms.
  A strong community pushes content further than paid spend ever can.
• Community protects reputation.
  Swifties act as a real-time crisis shield. They debunk rumours before her team even get to grips with them. Try buying that kind of loyalty.
• Advocacy over impressions.
  Advocacy turns passive audiences into active promoters – think of it like word-of-mouth with rocket boosters.
• Belonging beats banner ads.
  People want to feel aligned with something bigger than themselves. Swift delivers identity. Most brands deliver sales copy.

In PR terms, this is the holy grail.

You can’t pay for this energy – but you can create the conditions for it.

When your audience thinks they know you

Here’s the uncomfortable truth for most marketers, Taylor Swift has built one of the most successful parasocial relationships in history – and she’s weaponised it in a wholesome, strategic, and commercially brilliant way.

Fans believe they know her, her heartbreak, her triumphs, her values, her humour, her cats. That intimacy translates into purchase decisions – tickets, albums, limited editions, merch drops, cinema screenings, even political alignment.

For businesses, this is where PR matters more than marketing.

Marketing sells the product. PR sells the person, the mission, the emotional reason to stay.

People buy from brands they feel connected to. They follow brands that feel alive, consistent and human. They stick with brands that share enough vulnerability, enough narrative, and enough authenticity to create a sense of relationship.

So, if you want retention? Build an emotional bond, not just a funnel.

Why your marketing strategy isn’t working

Because you’re chasing visibility, not connection.

Because you’re measuring impressions instead of impact.

Because you’re creating campaigns when you should be creating culture.

Your brand doesn’t need a TikTok trend, it needs a tribe.

It doesn’t need a content calendar, it needs a narrative arc.

It doesn’t need influencers, it needs influence.

And this is where PR – real PR – becomes non-negotiable.

What Satsuma would do with the Swift playbook

Here’s what brands should steal unapologetically from Taylor’s comms strategy – and what Satsuma does with clients every day:

1. Build lore, not ads.

Tell stories your audience wants to repeat. Build personality, myth, connection, rituals.

2. Create emotional continuity.

Show up with consistency – tone, visuals, language, values. When audiences know what you stand for, they stand with you.

3. Invite participation.

Ask questions. Share behind the scenes. Use community-generated content. Make your audience feel involved, not targeted.

4. Lead with values.

Taylor’s political posts move voter behaviour because she’s spent years building trust. Values always come before virality.

5. Own your narrative.

Swift has turned her story into a movement. Every brand has a story of resilience, reinvention, or transformation – most just never tell it properly.

6. Stay human.

People buy people. Speak like one.

The big picture

Taylor Swift isn’t successful because she’s a phenomenon – she’s a phenomenon because she understands communication better than most governments, CEOs and marketing directors.

Remember, PR isn’t a press release. It’s a relationship.

And the brands that understand this will build fanbases, not followings.

Swifties aren’t a demographic – they’re a case study.

And if your brand wants to win in 2026, you need to start building your own version of them.