#086: Cheap Ads Start Today

Read Time: 1.5 Minutes

The "recommended" advice out there is to stop advertising altogether at this time of year or at the very least, reduce your advertising budgets.

But today, I'm going to offer an alternative option:

Carry on advertising and increase budgets.

What?!?

Yes, carry on running your ads as normal, and if possible, increase your budget(s).

Today, December 21st, marks the cut-off for most physical product businesses to guarantee delivery of their products to customers in time for Christmas.

But as a fiction author, you most likely earn the majority of your royalties from eBooks and possibly Kindle Unlimited Page Reads, too.

Delivery in time for Christmas, postal strikes, etc, don't affect eBook sales for obvious reasons.

So, when many advertisers are reducing their budgets, or even turning their ads off altogether, you do the complete opposite.

As Christmas draws closer, more and more people will be finishing work for the next 7-10 days, spending time with family, and if the latest stats on mobile phone and social media usage are anything to go by, many folks will be spending more time on their phones (scrolling on Facebook).

This presents a field day for advertisers... an increase in traffic, and a decrease in cost.

Why the decrease in cost?

Advertising platforms such as Facebook and Amazon work on a supply-and-demand basis.

They only have a limited amount of advertising slots (after all, the last thing they want to do is bombard their users with ads).

When there are fewer advertisers who want those spots, costs naturally decrease.

December 21st through December 31st is sometimes referred to as Quarter 5 or Q5.

And uniquely for authors, from December 25th - December 31st, we have an even bigger advantage than many other business owners...

Kindle and eBook devices make superb Christmas gifts.

An empty Kindle needs books.

Facebook Ads and Amazon Ads provide an amazing opportunity to introduce your books to a swathe of new readers with a new Kindle in their hands.

So, if you're already running ads, keep them going and if you can, increase the budgets on your best-performing ads.

If you were thinking about starting ads in the New Year, consider bringing that start date forward and launching some ads over the next couple of days.

I've kept this newsletter short today, as I'm sure you're deep in holiday season mode and have 1,000 different things to do in preparation for next week, especially if, like us, you have little ones and the big red guy in a sleigh is paying your house a visit.

So, that just leaves me to say, thank you so much for being a valued reader of my newsletter, whether you've just signed up or you've been reading for weeks, months, or even years. I truly appreciate your support, time and attention.

And however you're celebrating next week, enjoy time with friends, family and loved ones.

Happy holidays.

See you in the New Year :)

To Your Success
– Matt