That one client who asked for a 'viral' post for $50 really stuck with me

I had a small business owner come to me last spring at a coffee shop in Denver. She ran a local bakery and wanted me to make one Instagram post go viral for her whole budget of $50. I tried to explain that viral isn't something you can just order like a cake, but she kept pointing at other brand posts with millions of views. She said 'if they can do it, why can't you?' and I had to break down what those brands actually spent on ads and content creators. It took me 20 minutes to walk her through the difference between organic luck and paid reach. Has anyone else had a client completely misunderstand what goes into a campaign like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

mason.paige24d ago

Honestly never got the whole viral thing until I tried explaining it to someone.

noahcampbell24d ago

Drive into what she expected to happen after you explained it. Did she actually hear you or just nod along until she could bring up another example of a random bakery with 10 million views? Those follow-up questions always tell me if someone is genuinely learning or just looking for a shortcut. I've had people sit there and say "okay but what if we just try this one cheap trick" after I spent 15 minutes laying out the math.

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