The Accidental Viral Moment That Changed Everything

Welcome to a new episode of Business Lunch! On today’s episode, Ryan Deiss unpacks the full story behind his viral “retirement” post, a headline that unexpectedly ignited controversy, curiosity, and massive engagement. He shares the real reason behind DigitalMarketer’s major pivot, the behind-the-scenes chaos of a misfired email campaign, and the strategic follow-through that turned a happy accident into one of their most successful promotions ever. If you want to learn how to harness viral attention and turn it into real revenue, this episode is a masterclass in doing exactly that.

Highlights:

“I’m retiring from digital marketing and taking my company down with me.”

“It was a forcing function for me to finally stop doing what I always defaulted to.”

“We’re not training people anymore. We’re training AI.”

“The post was an accident. What happened after? That was strategy.”

Timestamps:

00:00 From 1999 to Now: A Marketing Journey

02:42 The Viral “Retirement” Post

05:00 The Unexpected Reactions

08:19 Why DigitalMarketer Had to Pivot

12:41 Email Chaos Behind the Scenes

15:00 Handling a Viral Moment in Real Time

20:00 Lessons From the Comments Section

24:06 What Ryan Would Do Differently Next Time

7:32 The 77% Opt-in Rate Town Hall

31:53 Retiring With a Final Offer

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