Taylor's Swifties Score One for the NFL - And Small Biz Marketing

While some diehard NFL fans grumbled about all the cameras cutting to Taylor Swift in the stands during her boyfriend Patrick Mahomes' games, the pop star's presence was actually a brilliant marketing coup for the league. By having the immensely popular Swift supporting the Chiefs from the sidelines week after week, the NFL gained exponential exposure to an entirely new demographic - Swift's enormous young female fan base, who previously had little to no interest in football.

Suddenly, millions of "Swifties" who couldn't have cared less about scoring drives and defensive schemes were tuning in raptly. There were reports of teen girls sporting "Go Taylor's Boyfriend" hoodies and cheering passionately for Mahomes. An audience the NFL could only dream of reaching through paid advertising was now hooked on watching the games.

The impact showed in the astronomical ad spending on Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce, and coach Andy Reid this season. Companies shelled out an estimated $367 million to feature the Chiefs stars in commercials and capitalize on their newfound cultural saturation fueled heavily by the Taylor Swift phenomenon.

While some traditional fans cringed at their sacred game being "polluted" by such pop culture crossover, the reality is the NFL desperately needs to cultivate new, younger viewers to remain viable long-term. Taylor's Red Tour turned out to be one of the league's most powerful plays for attracting the next generation.

In earning the feverish support of a megastar's fanbase, Patrick Mahomes and company gave the NFL promotions teams' wildest marketing dreams. It's yet another reminder of Taylor Swift's cosmic capacity to make virtually anything she touches massively popular - even NFL football.

So what can small businesses learn from this unlikely NFL/Taylor Swift synergy?

1) The power of finding unexpected affinities. Nobody could have predicted Swift's presence would entice millions of teens to watch football. But in finding that surprising overlap between their brand/product and another's fanbase, small businesses can unlock vast new audiences.

2) Influencer marketing works. While Swift's influence was accidental from the NFL's perspective, her ability to popularize the Chiefs demonstrated yet again how partnering with the right influencer who can authentically promote your brand can pay massive dividends.

3) Don't box yourself in. The NFL was able to transcend its traditional demographic by letting in some pop culture chaos from an unlikely interloper like Swift. Small businesses should be open to leaving their comfort zone and not defining their audience too narrowly.

4) Create a cultural moment. Swift's Chiefs cameos became cultural events amplified across social media. Find memorable ways to centrally insert your small business within the broader conversations happening in your market/community.

What first looked like an awkward or unwanted convergence became one of the NFL's shrewdest audience expansion plays. By staying flexible, thinking outside the box, and not underestimating unlikely affinities and influencer sway, small businesses can take a page from the playbook and creatively hit lucrative new markets.