January is the cheapest time of the year to buy ads. Meta even has a name for it: “Q5”,the stretch from late December to mid-January when big brands pull back and media costs drop to their lowest of the year.
Most founders I talk to spend those weeks alone, at 9 pm, in Ads Manager.
The January Budget Trap
Here's how it usually goes.
→ Your Q1 budget gets approved in December
→ Everyone agrees ads matter
→ The money sits with whoever has time to run it (usually you)
→ The cheapest weeks of the year get your leftover hours.
→ You launch a couple of campaigns, check them between calls, and promise yourself you'll test new creative next week.
By February, prices are climbing again and the window you planned for is gone.
What a dedicated buyer changes
A media buyer lives in your accounts. In a normal week, that looks like:
Reading yesterday's numbers before you've opened your laptop
Cutting the ads that aren't working before they eat the budget
Launching new creative tests every week, not every quarter
Moving spend to whatever's winning, across every channel you run
None of that is complicated. It just takes daily attention, which is exactly what a founder doesn't have in January.
What it costs
The usual reason founders put this hire off is price. A good US media buyer is expensive, and the budget feels like it should go to ads, not salary.
Here's what the same seat costs when you hire in Latin America:
US media buyer | Latin American media buyer | |
Monthly salary | $4,500 to $1,200 | $2,000 to $6,000 |
Per year | $54,000 to $34,400 | $24,000 to $72,000 |
That's $30,000 to $62,400 a year back. For most of the founders I talk to, that gap is the difference between "next year" and "now."
"Doesn't a media buyer need to be local?"
It's the first question I get.
But look at what the job actually is: reading data, testing creative and moving budget to what's working. None of that happens in your office anyway.
What it does need is overlap, so they're in your accounts when you are. Latin American media buyers work US hours, so when you spot something at 10 am, they're already looking at it.
Many have also run spend in both US and Latin American markets, so they've seen more than one kind of buyer.
Why start this month
Timing matters more with this hire than most. Start now, and your buyer spends December learning your accounts, your creative history and what's already been tried.
Then when the cheap weeks hit, your campaigns are already live and your tests are already planned. You get the lowest prices of the year with someone actually watching them, and you're not the one in Ads Manager at 9 pm.
If this sounds like your January, reply to this email or book a call. Tell us your monthly spend and channels, and we'll tell you what the right buyer looks like.
** PS: Something's coming next Thursday. Check your passport's expiration date.
>>>> Book Your Free Call <<<<
Until next time,
The Go Carpathian Team
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