By Hope Sickler
for Real American Cowboy Magazine
Yes, Fallon Taylor is a WPRA World Champion barrel racer but more than that – Fallon Taylor is an industry.
By any measure, Fallon Taylor is maximizing her value as a rodeo athlete in new and unprecedented ways; and she’s already won the hearts and purchases of tens of thousands of fans which has catapulted her to levels of recognition and financial success no rodeo cowboy/cowgirl has experienced in this way before.
Fallon Taylor is a brand.
And she was a brand long before she won her first WPRA World Championship this past December. That’s not to say, winning a gold buckle hasn’t been the cherry-on-top, only to point out that Fallon’s success began with some relatively simple marketing decisions she made a while back – and then followed-through.
She’s also moving more mainstream – not with tsunami force – an inch at a time, but more and more non-rodeo people know who Fallon Taylor is and have a lurking picture of a pretty girl in an outrageously colored outfit on a flashy horse racing through the night. That’s her brand.
Internet World Champion
As far as squeezing Mr. Internet goes, Fallon is also a World Champion proving authenticity and fan-focused warmth is what works – her social media presence always free of any hint of narcissism and always fan-friendly.
Fallon’s nature is fairly represented in her online presence – to listen to her is a little like listening to Bill Gates years ago talk about the future of the Internet – her focus, her nature and her mind are always pointed toward the larger and more futurist dreams she has for the sport of barrel racing and rodeo in general. Yesterday’s times and scores and association-quibbles and prize-money deficiencies and all the politics aren’t where Fallon Taylor’s head is at. She works around those things.
She’s promoting bigger things, more important things – the use of helmets – barrel racing as an Olympic sport – how to move rodeo into the mainstream. And, with that mind-set and a fairly unsophisticated marketing plan – Fallon Taylor is making in-roads into the “how to make your rodeo career really pay” world like nobody ever has before.
Her Internet site is literally the AMAZON of the horse community. A simple, clean and easy to use website, visitors are memorized by Fallon’s fame and offered dozens of products, everything from her autographs to bits, to an entire line of clothing, hats and helmets. Again, totally and surely intentionally absent of any narcissistic, “look how great I am” – count my buckles – turn-offs. It’s fair to say, Fallon Taylor “gets it.”
2014 World Champion Barrel Racer Fallon Taylor continues to set the bar high in and out of the arena with her knowledge, grace and style.
The tie-dye thing
“I got back into the world of rodeo after taking a long break from it. My husband, Delbert, was not a rodeo guy, so I bought a DVD after my first year back on the road of the 1995-1998 NFR that I competed at. He immediately noticed all the crazy clothes and said that it was rodeo’s answer to having a jersey number to help make you stand out. That was the start to this crazy fad of clothing that I have evolved into,” said Taylor.
Delbert’s comment sparked a fire in Fallon. And that’s where good marketing begins – a good idea – one good enough that it moves the mind and excites matched with the guts to try it, then measure it, then tweak it then master it.
“My amazing friends Karen and Brian went into overdrive at home and started making me these insanely crazy outfits so that my fans could easily spot me from miles away,” laughed Taylor.
Although she claimed she felt bizarre at first for wearing these flamboyant outfits, she quickly noted her fans loved it and for a time that was why she was willing to do it.
“Some of my peers even gave me some funny looks when I would step out of the trailer and I would just remind myself that the outfit I had on was not for them but for my amazing fans.”
“My style is getting back to the basics of being a true entertainer. I want to perform with a smile, fringe, and glitter, whatever makes the crowd stand up and cheer for OUR sport of rodeo. It is certainly not about me. It’s about our sport and crowd entertainment. I want my fans to act like unruly football fans, jumping up and down and feeling like my wins are their wins, too!”
Fallon admits that she has huge dreams of getting barrel racing into the Olympics and she believes that her outrageous and colorful attire will help her accomplish it.
“I would love to see barrel racing get into the Olympics. I would also like to see rodeo get the kind of recognition that the X-Games get. The rodeo athletes deserve that kind of recognition and I am hoping to get them that. I would also really like to see the influence on helmets continue to grow. I think it is overlooked and the safety of a competitor should never be overlooked. I hope that by sporting my helmet, it will show others that safety in our sport in very important,” explained Taylor.
Taylor’s business, Ranch Dressin’, is continuing to customize helmets and hats in order to bring more flash into the arena for the competitors that don’t want to have full tie-dye gear on.
“Our plan is to customize helmets and hats for riders that don’t want to dress as flashy as I do but still want to have a little piece of BabyFlo and I in the arena with them.”
In addition, Taylor is starting a couple new lines such as “Fear” and “XTREME TRAINING TOOLS”.
“My goal with “Fear” is to bring some new flair into the world of dressage and maybe even convince a few of them to come be barrel racers at the same time. I think barrel racing is one of the greatest thrills and such a huge adrenaline rush and I would love to spread that feeling to other areas of riding.”
As far as XTREME TRAINING TOOLS, Taylor hopes to develop a way to virtually work with barrel racers across the globe and help them train their barrel horses.
“Since the demand for clinics is overwhelming and my schedule doesn’t exactly allow for me to be in all places all the time that is why we are working on this new training site. It will give barrel racers across the globe an opportunity to learn my tricks in order to help them become the next world champions,” Taylor said.
Can anybody in rodeo do what Fallon Taylor has done? The opportunity is certainly there for dozens of high-end rodeo cowboys and cowgirls, but they’ll have to find their own niche’ and they’re not going to be able to do it with tie-dye. They’ll have to find their own signature-market – like Jack Nichols did in designing golf courses or Michael Jordon did with tennis shoes.
It is possible for a popular rodeo cowboy or cowgirl today can make more money offering products and services than what they can earn in an arena – and the more of that activity, the more high-quality sponsors come knocking.
Fallon Taylor’s hopes and intentions are the foundation of her remarkable marketing performance – Fallon is focused on things bigger than Fallon – something of rarity in today’s rodeo world and at the core of it all are solid desires.
Don’t think she hasn’t had moments of self-doubt, when you break with tradition, when you present yourself entirely unique among your peers, when you push the envelope, life can get pretty uncomfortable – whether you love her or not – you have to admit, the woman is both courageous and one amazing athlete.
Fallon Taylor is leader in a world that often resists change. She’s a game-changer. She designing her career her way, on her terms and she’s making it work.
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About Hope Sickler: An accomplished professional barrel racer and barrel horse trainer, raised on a 10,000 acre farm in North Dakota, Hope comes from good stock. With each passing season Hope Sickler continues to climb the barrel racing ladder and likely headed to the top. Hope is also a well-known Western lifestyle Journalist, she was named Writer of the Year in 2013 by Real American Cowboy Magazine, her articles appear in many newspapers and magazines serving the Western world.
