Scope Creep Examples — SEO & marketing
New stakeholders join and want their own strategy review
The SEO strategy was approved by the original marketing lead. New stakeholders join the account and each wants to revisit the strategy from scratch.
The keyword strategy and content calendar were presented and approved in writing by the original marketing lead at kickoff. Midway through the quarter, two additional stakeholders — a regional franchise owner and a new hire on the client's marketing team — join calls and each asks to revisit the strategy "from the top" with their own priorities, effectively asking for the strategy presentation and approval process to happen again, twice.
Clause typically implicated
Clause typically implicated
Acceptance testing clause→ — The written strategy sign-off from the authorized contact is what the current retainer hours are allocated against — new stakeholders don't automatically reopen that approval.
Suggested change-order wording
Suggested change-order wording (illustrative, not legal advice)
The current strategy was approved by [original contact] on [date] and this quarter's hours are allocated to executing it. I'm glad to send the new stakeholders a summary of the approved strategy and reasoning, and gather any input from them for next quarter's planning — a full strategy re-presentation for each new stakeholder would be additional scoped time at [rate].
How this usually resolves
Routing new input into the next planning cycle rather than reopening the current one keeps execution moving and still gives new stakeholders a real say — most clients accept this once it's clear the alternative is losing progress on work already in motion.
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