Marketing Genie

Another day, another client to satisfy. Working at a marketing agency should be fairly routine; the agency gets a new client, figures out what they want, provides a price, and it’s a done deal. I, however, signed onto a fairly new agency that was still building up its clientele, leading to days full of-

“Why hasn’t our profile gone viral yet?”

“You promised us increased reach, how come we’ve only gotten a hundred new followers? It’s already been a week!”

None of the clients seem to trust us, well, that or they expect completely unrealistic results.

I could hear the fluorescent lights buzzing above me as I stared at my screen, editing a post for MakeupByKara. My cursor was blinking in the center of the graphic, where I was trying to decide what to write in the video. I had agreed to stay late to wrap up some of the content for this client, but the clock on my computer was already reading 9:15.

When I signed up to work with this agency, I had assumed I’d be working with a team. People I could bounce ideas off of and better my skills. Well, that was wrong. The agency was the CEO, if you could call her that, as well as me and like three other girls, all of whom our boss went to college with, leaving me as the odd one out. The one who had to prove herself.

I reached out to power off my computer so I could head home and get some sleep before having to come back in tomorrow morning, when I got an email.

“Of course, a client would reach out right as I’m getting ready to leave. God, I hope it isn’t someone asking for another tweak on their content schedule…”

I clicked the notification, and it brought me to my email. It was from some company called Marketing Genie? I never signed up for any mailing list at a company like that…

Dear Alicia,

We are reaching out to discuss a work proposition with you. We have seen and recognized your potential at PineAesthetics Marketing Agency and would like to make you an offer. You would not have to leave your current place of employment, although you may. Our offer for salary is commission-based and unlimited. Please email us back if you are interested.

Sincerely,

Marketing Genie LLC

“What the hell is this? It must be one of those new scams where someone offers you a job but ‘you have to send them money first to ensure they can send you money to your account’...”

I looked at the email for a few minutes, rereading it over and over. I looked up the company to see if there was any information on it. I found a website with a few reviews and testimonials, all of them stellar…

Marketing Genie launched my company to limitless success!

-Alpha Bull Protein

Their prices were nothing compared to how much exposure they gave me!

-Mahogany Cosmetics

Upon looking up the companies, I found that they were all very reputable on social media. Some even have marketing campaigns that I recognized.

“I guess it couldn’t hurt to email them back…”

Dear Marketing Genie,

I would love to hear more about the terms of this offer. I am flattered that you appreciate my work, especially since I have seen several pieces of yours. I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Alicia McCord

After sending the email, I received an immediate response.

Dear Alicia,

We are thrilled that you are considering our offer. Here is what the job entails…

“I couldn’t be reading this right…”

You will remain at your current place of employment, and your clients will still be obtained by the agency. Each of your posts for these clients will go viral, thanks to us, and you will continue to charge your typical rate of $2.50 for 1,000 views or impressions. We will receive $0.25 of every $2.50 you make. Are you still interested?

Sincerely,

The Marketing Genie

“All of my posts will go viral? This must be a scam.”

Dear Marketing Genie,

And there are no other costs besides the $0.25 per 1,000 views I gain?

Dear Alicia,

There are no other costs. We will send you an expense report at the end of each week, and our current deal will terminate once you reach one billion views. Do we have a deal?

Dear Marketing Genie,

We have a deal. I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Alicia McCord

Out of curiosity, I wrapped up creating the short video for the makeup artists and scheduled it to go live at noon the next day. At 9:45 PM, I finally got to go home.

Coming into work the next day, I had to recheck my email to ensure that what I had read the night before was actually there and not a dream. There it was, the email thread with Marketing Genie. I worked on projects for a few other clients before the time came, 12:00 PM. The post I made for the local makeup artist went live. There it was, my proof. Ten views in ten minutes. Of course, Marketing Genie was a scam, and not a very good one. They only had my email and name. I checked my bank accounts, and not a cent of the $99.85 I had in there was missing. It was a good thing I had just paid my rent and utilities or I would be screwed.

“Hey Alicia! Do you want to come out to lunch with us? It’s been so long!”

Lacey was asking me to go out to lunch with them? I don’t think I have talked to my boss in the last few months outside of her giving me the rundown on a new client.

“Yeah, for sure!”

I powered off my computer as we went out for lunch for the first time since I had started working there a few months ago.

Lacey took a break from eating her fajitas at the restaurant we went to

“So, how has the work with MakeupByKara been going, Alicia?”

I was a bit shocked that she was actually asking me about my work for once.

“It’s going well, she seems happy with the content schedule, but she emails me pretty often asking me to change the graphics a few times, but then she likes it better the original way anyways…”

“I see, that’s pretty common for the clients we’ve been getting…” Lacey sighs as she looks over at the other girls. Maya catches her gaze and nods, looking over to me.

“Yeah, remember the burger restaurant I was working with last month? They had me edit a short video twenty times before they were happy with it; it only got like 2,000 impressions, so we got like nothing from it.” Maya looks down at the enchiladas she ordered. I just noticed she had barely touched them and was just pushing her food around the plate.

I was distracted from the conversation by my phone buzzing; there was a text from an unfamiliar number.

Check your post.

“A bit ominous, it must be Marketing genie… but how did they get my number?”

“Oh my god, Alicia!” Lacey squealed, shocking me out of my thought-induced trance. She was holding her phone in front of me, open to the MakeupByKara page…

“Woah…” That was all I could say. The short video I had posted had reached 2 million views! The agency’s billable rate was $4.00 per thousand views, of which they kept $1.50. The agency had just earned $3,000, which was the largest amount they had ever made from any client. Lacey was getting a call from Kara.

“Hi Kara! Did you see your newest post?” Lacey was doing her best to contain her excitement.

“Of course I did! I’ve gotten 1,000 new inquiries in the last hour! You guys are amazing, thank you!” Kara was nearly screaming into the phone, it felt so amazing to make someone that happy and proud of my work.

“We’re glad you’re happy, Kara! We’ll send you the invoice tomorrow at noon like usual.” Lacey was smiling as she loaded up her next fajita and waved over our waiter.

“Sounds perfect! Thank you again.” Kara hung up as the waiter made his way over.

“What can I get for you ladies?” He pulled up his writing pad as he awaited Lacey’s answer.

“I think we all need a margarita and a tres leches for each of us, please, we’re celebrating!” The waiter smiled as he wrote down each of our margarita orders and went back to the kitchen.

“This is a huge win, Alicia! How did you do it?” Maya had been staring at me since the call came in, clearly in shock. Up until now, she had held the agency record of 500,000 views on one video for a client.

“Well, I guess this is the project I stayed late to work on, and it paid off!” I laughed it off as everyone else did, but Maya didn’t seem convinced.

Lacey ended up letting us leave early for the day, which kicked off the weekend. The next day, the payment for $5,000 hit my account, and I received another text from an unknown number.

Congratulations on your success, Alicia! As per our deal, here is a request for our $500. We look forward to continuing to work with you.

-Marketing Genie

I sent them the money and saved the number in my phone, but then I had an idea.

Hey, does this deal work if I post something for myself too?

Yes, it does, if you post a video marketing a product or if it’s monetized, then we get 10% of your earnings!

To test out my theory, I opened up my social media. I had amassed several followers from a while back and had worked with a few small brands. I messaged a large makeup brand and asked if they would pay me for a video about their highlighter on my profile. They agreed and decided on a commission of $5.00 for each product purchased from my video and $3.50 for each 1,000 views.

I set up to film the video by grabbing the highlighter I had purchased that afternoon with the money I earned from the MakeupByKara project. Once I had taken an hour to edit it and add hashtags and a description, I posted it.

Just like before, it started with just a few views. But after thirty minutes, the video started blowing up.

She’s hilarious! This highlighter really IS amazing, though.

Oh my gosh, I kept seeing this on the shelves but didn’t know if it was worth the price… PURCHASED!

I don’t consider myself an impulse shopper, but OH. MY. G O D. This highlighter is literal perfection!!!

Within a few hours, the video had received 100 million views with 60,000 purchases. I received a thank you package from the company on Monday morning with a bunch of their other makeup products as well as a wire transfer to my bank account of $800,000 after gaining even more views and commissioned purchases of their highlighter.

Congratulations again, Alicia! You have reached 125 million views of your 1 billion views with us here at Marketing Genie! Here is our wire information for the $80,000. We are looking forward to continuing to work with you here at Marketing Genie!

I sent over the money before bracing myself for the ambush of questions at work. When I got there, it was business as usual for everyone. They must not have seen the video.

“Hey Alicia! Can I speak with you in my office?” Lacey had made her way over to my desk and was wearing a smile so wide I was worried her face would split in half

“Of course!” Surely this was just about yesterday, as far as I was aware, there wasn’t any clause in my contract saying that I couldn’t promote other products outside of the company’s clients…

Lacey shut the door behind us and dropped the smile for a second, taking a deep breath before continuing.

“So I saw your video from the other day with Golden Cosmetics? How on earth did you do that?” Lacey sat down and seemed to be examining me closely.

“Well, I just messaged them asking if they would let me do a brand deal, they gave me a better deal than expected, and when I posted the video, it kind of exploded…” Lacey nodded her head, thinking.

“Where has this content creation been for the agency, Alicia? We’ve been barely getting by for months, and now you start going viral all the time? Where was this?” Lacey almost seemed a bit hurt.

“Well, you know how it is, you can’t exactly control what goes viral, you know?” Lacey nods and sighs.

“You can get back to work, Alicia. Thank you for all your hard work. Keep it up, okay?” Lacey gives me a solemn smile before I go back to my desk and respond to a few clients' emails.

Once it hits 5:00 PM, I actually leave with the other girls for once instead of staying late. I wave goodbye as I get to my car. I decided to go to the mall with my newfound riches and buy something nice for myself.

I decided to get a purse from Hermés to celebrate. Walking into the store, I could instantly tell that I was out of place. Everyone here is so dressed up and examining each of the purses with a clerk. As I was looking at the purses, a clerk came over to ask if I needed any help. I told her I was trying to decide on a purse to buy, so she brought out a few for me to check out. She pulled out a beautiful green purse for me to look at when I noticed a teenager taking a photo of the purse, so I waved, and she awkwardly waved back before going back to looking at some shoes. I ended up purchasing the purse for $30,000 and got back to my car.

“This purse is so extravagant! I can’t believe I bought something so expensive!”

I was completely giddy in the car when I got a call from Lacey.

“Hey Alicia, were you just at the Hermés store?”

“Yeah, I was! Were you at the mall?”

“Um, no… I’m gonna send you something. Don’t freak out, okay?”

Lacey sent me a link to a video on Instagram. It was me buying my purse, and it was by the kid who was taking a photo of me. The video had text saying

“All that money, and she still can’t buy any taste.”

The comments were vicious, and there were thousands of them. The video had gained 50 million views.

“Alicia, are you okay?”

I didn’t want to admit that it hurt, but it did. All these people bashing the purse I had just bought, a purse I had been eyeing for a year but never thought I’d be able to afford.

“It’s a beautiful purse, Alicia, you earned it, okay? And hey! You might get a brand deal with Hermés out of this!” Lacey chuckled on the other side of the phone.

“Thank you, Lacey…” I was holding back tears. I knew she was right, and I loved the purse I bought as well as my style. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After hanging up the phone, I drove home, crying the whole way. I set my purse on the counter when I got home. It was beautiful, but it still hurt my heart to look at.

People can be awful, can’t they? But on the bright side, companies are simple; they like exposure and money. Check your email.

-Marketing Genie

I wiped the tears from my face and opened my email. There was an email from Hermés offering me a deal. $6.00 per thousand views on a post with the green purse. I sent an email agreeing to the deal and got up to record my video.

The next morning, the video had reached 800 million views, and it had become one of the most viewed videos of all time on Instagram. Hermés sent me 4.8 million dollars. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t even know making this much money was even possible.

Hi there, Alicia! You have reached the allotted 1 billion views in our agreement. For your most recent video, we are requesting the $480,000.

I sent over the money when there was a knock at my door. I looked through the peephole to see someone wearing a Marketing Genie polo. So I opened the door.

“Hi there, it’s so nice to finally meet someone from your company-”

The lady held out a magic lamp.

“Oh, that’s cool! Is that like a company award for when a client reaches 1 billion views?”

I pointed out my finger, gesturing at the lamp. I looked down and noticed my finger was being sucked in.

I was in a dimly lit room at a computer with a piece of paper in front of me with terms and conditions.

There is no way to leave the lamp without following these instructions

1. You will be placed back in your place of residence upon completion, at the same place and time you were taken

2. You will maintain all of your assets

Instructions

Secure a new genie; The new genie must garner 1 billion views

I quickly wrote an email.

Dear Maya,

We have seen and recognized your potential at PineAesthetics Marketing Agency and would like to make you an offer. Our offer for salary is commission-based and unlimited. Please email us back if you are interested.

Sincerely,

Marketing Genie LLC