If you have called three medspa marketing agencies this month, you have probably heard the same shape of answer: a custom quote after a discovery call, and a twelve-month minimum.
The term is presented as normal. It is worth asking what it is actually for.
Why agencies want the twelve months
There is a legitimate version of this argument and you should understand it before dismissing it.
Search work compounds. An agency that fixes your technical foundation, rebuilds your treatment pages and starts earning reviews in month one is doing front-loaded work whose return arrives in months four through nine. If you leave in month three, they funded the expensive part and you take the benefit.
That is a real risk and a term is a reasonable answer to it.
Why it is usually not that
The problem is that the same twelve-month term gets applied to engagements with no front-loaded build at all. Ongoing ad management, monthly content, routine reporting. There the term is not protecting an investment. It is smoothing revenue.
You can tell which one you are being offered by asking a single question: what happens in month one that does not happen in month seven? If the answer is “nothing much”, the term is not for you.
What no long contract changes in practice
It changes who has to perform. On a twelve-month agreement, the agency has your money for a year regardless. On a monthly one, they have to be worth keeping every month. I know which arrangement makes me work harder, because I am on the second one.
It changes what month three looks like. I have seen this from both sides: owners on long terms routinely describe the account going quiet after the onboarding rush. Owners on monthly arrangements report the opposite problem, which is being asked for feedback more often than they expected.
It does not change the timeline. This is the honest part. Search still takes four to six months to compound whether or not you signed a term. A monthly arrangement gives you the option to leave, not a faster result. Anyone selling you speed because there is no contract is selling you something else.
What it costs
My pricing is public. Work is $800 or $1,500 per month, flat, with no minimum term and no automatic renewal. Most single-location medspas need the $1,500 tier, because treatment pages, review systems and ad compliance do not fit into a starter scope.
I publish it because the alternative is a discovery call whose real purpose is to work out what you will pay. According to my own check of the medspa agency pages ranking in September 2026, most publish no figure at all, and the ones that do give a range rather than a number.
The compliance point most owners are not warned about
The FTC rule on fake and incentivised reviews carries penalties up to est. $51,744 per violation, and it applies to testimonials that misrepresent the experience of the person giving them. That includes incentivised before-and-after participation and reviews written by staff.
Whoever runs your marketing is generating reviews and publishing your gallery. If they have never raised this with you, they have not thought about your exposure, and a twelve-month term will not protect you from it.
When you should accept a term
If an agency is building you a new site as part of the engagement and pricing the build inside the monthly fee, a term is fair. Ask them to scope the build separately instead, pay for it, and keep the ongoing work monthly. You will usually find that is available if you ask.
What to check before you sign anything
Who owns the domain, the site, the Google Business Profile, the ad account and your review profile. The answer should be you, in writing. That matters far more than the fee, and I have set out why in marketing agency contract terms and what to refuse.
If you want to compare the field first, including where I am the wrong choice, I compare the medspa agencies honestly in best medspa marketing agencies.
When you want it fixed, take the 30-minute call.
General commercial guidance, not legal or compliance advice. Advertising and review rules belong with your own counsel.
