Med Spa MarketingStrategy and Planning

"How much should I be spending on marketing?"

It's the question I get asked more than any other by medspa owners.

And most of the time, the owner asking already has a number in their head. Usually, it's way too low.

They're spending $1,500 a month and wondering why the schedule isn't full. Or they boost a few Instagram posts, see nothing happen, and decide "ads don't work for us."

Here's the truth: your marketing budget is how you make money. It's the engine that drives new patients through your doors.

After 12 years of running marketing for medspa and wellness brands, I use a simple rule of thumb to set a budget. And in this post, I'm going to walk you through it, including:

• The 10% rule for medspa marketing budgets
• Whether to base your budget on current revenue or goal revenue
• A line-by-line breakdown of a $10,000 monthly marketing budget
• What to expect if you own a franchise
• How to scale using CAC, lifetime value, and ROAS

Let's dive in.

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Quick Answer: How Much Should a Medspa Spend on Marketing?

A good rule of thumb is for a medspa to spend about 10% of its current monthly revenue, or 10% of its goal monthly revenue, on marketing. For a medspa targeting $100,000 per month, that's $10,000 per month: roughly $2,000 for agency or in-house management and $8,000 for advertising and marketing spend.

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The 10% Rule for Medspa Marketing Budgets

Depending on your revenue goals and your current operating capital, here's the rule I recommend:

Spend 10% of your current monthly revenue, or 10% of your goal monthly revenue, on marketing.

Let's put that into real numbers:

Monthly Revenue (Current or Goal)	Monthly Marketing Budget
$50,000	$5,000
$100,000	$10,000
$150,000	$15,000
$250,000	$25,000

It's simple, and that's the point. It gives you a starting line so you're not guessing.

Is 10% Too Much?

Some owners hear 10% and flinch.

But consider this: according to Gartner's 2025 CMO Spend Survey, marketing budgets averaged 7.7% of company revenue, and most of the companies surveyed bring in more than $1 billion a year.

Those are huge brands with name recognition that took decades to build.

Your medspa is competing for attention in your city against every other clinic, and patients aren't going to find you by accident. For a local business trying to grow, 10% isn't aggressive. It's what it takes to stay visible.

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Current Revenue vs. Goal Revenue: Which Should You Use?

This is where your operating capital comes in.

Use current revenue if cash flow is tight. If you're doing $60,000 a month and don't have much in reserves, start at $6,000 and grow your budget as revenue grows.

Use goal revenue if you have the capital to invest in growth. If you're doing $60,000 a month but want to hit $100,000, and you have the operating capital to support it, budget $10,000 a month. You're spending toward the business you want to build, not the one you have today.

Here's the key: marketing drives revenue, so a budget based on today's numbers will usually keep you at today's numbers.

If you want to grow, you have to invest ahead of the growth.

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A Real $10,000 Monthly Medspa Marketing Budget Breakdown

Let's say you want to hit $100,000 per month in revenue.

That means a $10,000 monthly marketing budget.

In most cases, that budget breaks down into two parts:

• About $2,000 for management, whether that's an agency fee or an in-house marketing position
• About $8,000 for paid advertising and marketing spend

Here's how that looks line by line:

Line Item	Monthly Budget
Agency management fee	$2,000
Google Ads budget	$3,500
Meta ads budget	$3,500
Print materials	$300
Pop-up events	$300
SMS costs	$400
Total	$10,000

Let's break down each one.

Agency Management Fee: $2,000

This is what you pay a marketing agency or an in-house marketer to run everything.

Don't think of this as a cost on top of your ad spend. Think of it as the thing that makes your ad spend work.

Ad budget with no strategy behind it is how clinics burn thousands of dollars and decide marketing "doesn't work." The right team builds your campaigns, writes your creative, tracks conversions, and makes sure every dollar has a job.

If you're weighing your options, read should you hire a marketing agency for your medspa?

Google Ads: $3,500

Google Ads captures patients who are already searching for what you offer, like "Emsculpt Neo near me" or "hyperbaric oxygen therapy near me."

These are high-intent patients. They're ready to book, and they're comparing clinics right now.

That's why Google Ads gets one of the two largest pieces of the budget.

For campaign strategy, read Google Ads for medspas.

Meta Ads: $3,500

Meta ads (Facebook and Instagram) reach patients who aren't searching yet.

This is how you introduce new people to your clinic and to treatments they may not know exist. It's colder traffic, but it's also how you build awareness and grow your audience month after month.

Splitting your paid budget evenly between Google and Meta lets you capture demand that already exists while creating new demand at the same time.

For creative and targeting strategy, read Facebook and Instagram ads for medspas.

Print Materials: $300

Flyers, rack cards, business cards, and branded takeaways for your front desk, partner businesses, and community events.

Digital gets most of the attention, but people still love having something physical to take home.

Pop-Up Events: $300

Farmers markets, 10K runs, fall festivals, and partner events at gyms or Pilates studios.

Pop-ups put your brand face-to-face with your community. They build the kind of local trust that ads alone can't.

SMS Costs: $400

SMS is one of your most powerful retention tools.

This covers the cost of sending text campaigns to your patient database: holiday sales, reminders, reactivation offers, and lead follow-up.

Since your texts are going to your existing patients and leads, this is often one of the highest-return line items in your entire budget.

Just make sure you have proper consent before you text anyone. The FCC's guide on robocalls and texts explains the basics of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

For how this budget fits into a full-year strategy, read how to build a medspa marketing plan (with a 12-month template).

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What If You Own a Franchise?

If you own a medspa or wellness franchise, your budget may already be partly decided for you.

Most franchise agreements include a required marketing spend that you have to hit every month. In my experience, that requirement usually lands right around the same range we've been talking about.

It's also common to pay into a brand advertising fund on top of your local spend.

The Federal Trade Commission's guide to buying a franchise notes that some portion of franchise advertising fees may go toward national advertising or attracting new franchise owners, rather than promoting your specific location.

That's why your local marketing budget matters so much. The brand fund builds awareness for the name. Your local budget is what fills your schedule.

Check your franchise agreement and Franchise Disclosure Document so you know exactly what you're required to spend, and on what.

For more on this, read franchise marketing: brand fund vs. local marketing.

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You Can Never Do Enough Marketing

This is something I truly believe.

Your goal is to gain as much awareness as possible, both online and in your community. And once the machine is running, you can never take your foot off the gas pedal.

I've watched clinics have a record month, decide they're "busy enough," and cut their marketing budget.

Two months later, the schedule is empty.

Marketing works on a delay. The leads you generate this month become the patients, packages, and memberships you sell next month and the month after. When you cut the budget, you don't feel it right away. You feel it later, when it's much harder to recover.

The clinics that win are always marketing to new patients and always marketing to current patients, every single month.

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How to Know When to Scale Your Budget

The 10% rule is your starting point.

But a smart marketer won't stop there. They'll help you define two numbers that tell you exactly how far you can push your budget.

1. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Your customer acquisition cost is how much you spend to get one new patient.

Total marketing spend ÷ new patients = CAC

For example, if you spend $8,000 on advertising in a month and bring in 40 new patients, your CAC is $200.

For more detail, read medspa customer acquisition cost: benchmarks and how to lower it.

2. Patient Lifetime Value (LTV)

Lifetime value is how much revenue the average patient brings in over their entire relationship with your clinic.

A patient who comes in for a $400 facial might not look profitable at a $200 CAC. But if that same patient comes back every few months, buys a membership, and eventually tries body contouring, she could be worth thousands.

For how to calculate it, read patient lifetime value for medspas.

Why These Two Numbers Change Everything

Once you know your CAC and your lifetime value, marketing stops being a guessing game.

If it costs you $200 to acquire a patient worth $2,000 over time, you don't have a spending problem. You have a scaling opportunity.

That's when you can confidently scale your ads and really start scaling the revenue of your business.

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Always Watch Your ROAS

ROAS stands for return on ad spend.

It tells you how much revenue you generate for every dollar you put into advertising.

Revenue from ads ÷ ad spend = ROAS

So if you spend $3,500 on Google Ads and generate $17,500 in revenue from those patients, your ROAS is 5, often written as 5:1 or 500%.

You always want to keep a close eye on your ROAS, broken out by channel.

It tells you which campaigns deserve more budget, which ones need to be fixed, and which ones should be turned off.

To track it accurately, you need your ads, website, CRM, and point of sale connected, so you can follow a patient from the first click all the way to the treatment she purchased.

For the full list of numbers to watch, read medspa marketing KPIs: the numbers that actually matter.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What percentage of revenue should a medspa spend on marketing?

A good rule of thumb is about 10% of current monthly revenue, or 10% of your goal monthly revenue if you have the operating capital to invest in growth.

How much does a medspa marketing agency cost?

In a $10,000 monthly marketing budget, about $2,000 typically goes to agency management or an in-house marketing position, with the remaining $8,000 going to advertising and marketing spend.

How should a medspa split its budget between Google and Meta ads?

Splitting paid ad spend evenly between Google Ads and Meta ads is a strong starting point. Google captures patients already searching, and Meta builds awareness with new audiences. Adjust the split based on ROAS for each channel.

Do franchise medspas have required marketing budgets?

Most franchise agreements include a required monthly marketing spend, and many also require contributions to a brand advertising fund. Check your franchise agreement and Franchise Disclosure Document for the exact requirements.

When should a medspa increase its marketing budget?

Increase your budget once you know your customer acquisition cost and patient lifetime value, and your campaigns are producing a healthy return on ad spend.

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Conclusion

Your marketing budget isn't an expense to minimize.

It's how you drive new patients into your business and grow your revenue.

To recap:

• Start with the 10% rule: 10% of current revenue, or 10% of goal revenue if you have the capital
• Split it into management and spend: roughly $2,000 for management and $8,000 for advertising and marketing on a $10,000 budget
• Balance your channels: Google Ads, Meta ads, print, pop-up events, and SMS
• Know your franchise requirements if you're part of a franchise system
• Never take your foot off the gas
• Scale using CAC, lifetime value, and ROAS

Start this week by pulling last month's revenue and marketing spend. Divide one by the other and see where you actually land. Most owners are surprised.

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