Should We Stop Running Ads Going Into The Holidays?

In the last week, in fact, on the same day that week, two of our clients reached out asking us:

"Should we hold off on running ads from November to December?"

One client was informed by a consultant that “ad costs will go up roughly 2-3X because of increased spending”.

Another client thought perhaps he should move his launch from late December to early January.

For us, the additional information doesn’t change our response.

Here’s exactly what we told our clients:

Great question!

I personally don’t get caught up in that type of thinking.  The campaigns we aim to create, and are known for creating, work consistently over time.

By consistently, I mean in the long run.  There will always be volatility.

Yes, costs can and may go up.

But, I don’t think we’ve ever stopped running traffic for a single client in the last 7 years because of holidays and the potential for increased ad spend.

As an aside, traffic costs often go up and show considerable volatility at the end of each quarter along with right now during the election season.

If we see costs go up, we address where we can improve our operations and weather that storm.

I hope that answers your question.

What we didn’t tell our clients, and honestly because it’s just extra information, is this:

“That type of proactive decision making is like having a flat tire on your car, and instead of fixing the flat, you just take a knife to the other 3 tires and make them have flats too.”

The truth is, none of us have any idea whether or not our offers will be impacted by a particular season.

Or rather, we don’t know to what extent.

Yes, of course, costs go up.

But costs always go up. 

It’s a guarantee that our costs will go up on ad platforms.  That is the cost of doing business.

But to categorically assume that we’re going to be priced out of the game is just lunacy.

Take a look at what happened earlier this year…

In mid-March, our global economy experienced an unprecedented event that we all anticipated would cripple businesses both big and small.

Yet our company grew, and we saw new clients sign and new companies show interest in moving online than ever before.

It was unexpected.

It was a welcome surprise no doubt.

But it’s certainly not what we thought would happen. 

And to another point, it didn’t happen for everyone.

I think that’s the biggest takeaway.

Not everyone is going to be able to weather that storm.

Not everyone is going to be able to handle an increase in ad costs.

But that’s what we do.

We prepare ad campaigns and work with our clients year-round to anticipate unexpected events and changes in ad costs.

We never sit by idly and rest on our laurels.

Our goal is always to be improving our clients’ positions in order to be able to maintain positive revenue and growth.

Here are a few examples of holiday wins:

NOTE: We and our clients have had some of our biggest wins during the holidays! These results would NOT have happened if the ads were stopped.

SLD February 2020

SLD March 2020

November 2018

November 2018

December 2018

Examples…

Another popular thought… 

I should stop running on Christmas Day