What med spas typically spend
The commonly cited range is est. 5–8% of revenue to maintain volume and est. 8–15% to grow. Those are conventions, not laws — the honest version is that the right budget depends on your market's ad costs, how many providers you need to keep booked, and whether retention is doing its share. A med spa doing $60k/month that wants to grow lands around est. $4,800–$7,200/month all-in.
Below roughly $25k/month in revenue, percentages stop being useful: channel minimums take over. A workable local search program plus a small ads test rarely runs under est. $1,000–$1,500/month total, whatever the percentage math says. That is why the calculator applies a floor for small clinics.
Where the budget should go first
- Local search before paid ads. "Botox near me" and treatment-plus-city queries convert at intent you cannot buy cheaper elsewhere. Map pack position is driven by proximity, reviews and category coverage.
- Treatment cost content. Patients compare prices before they call. Practices that publish honest ranges win the call — across 151 medical practices I researched this year, 94% advertise cash-pay services with no published price anywhere. The gap is the opportunity.
- Retention is marketing. Memberships, pre-booking and email cost a fraction of acquisition. If retention is weak, every acquisition dollar works twice as hard as it should.
What the money buys at different levels
| Est. monthly budget | What it typically covers |
|---|---|
| est. $800–$1,500 | Local SEO + treatment cost content + review cadence. My starter/core tiers sit here on purpose. |
| est. $2,500–$5,000 | Above, plus managed Google Ads with landing pages and call tracking. |
| est. $5,000–$10,000+ | Multi-channel: paid social creative, influencer/UGC, CRM flows, multiple locations. |
Whoever you hire, make them show the split and what each line is supposed to produce. A budget without an attribution plan is a donation.
Frequently asked questions
How much should a med spa spend on marketing per month?
The commonly cited convention is est. 5–8% of revenue to maintain and est. 8–15% to grow, with a practical floor around est. $1,000–$1,500/month for small clinics because channel minimums outweigh percentages at low revenue. A $60k/month med spa aiming to grow typically lands around est. $4,800–$7,200/month.
Is the percentage-of-revenue rule reliable?
It is a starting point, not a law. It breaks at low revenue (minimums dominate), in expensive metro ad markets (Los Angeles clicks cost multiples of a small-city market), and when retention is weak. Use the percentage to open the conversation and your cost-per-booked-consult to run it.
Should the budget go to SEO or ads first?
Local search first in most cases: treatment-plus-city queries convert at high intent and keep working after you stop paying. Ads are the accelerator once tracking exists — running paid traffic to a site with no cost content and no call tracking burns budget invisibly.
What results should a med spa expect from this budget?
Nobody honest promises specific patient numbers — outcomes depend on market, reviews, pricing and the front desk. What you should demand: named deliverables monthly, call/booking tracking from day one, and reporting that ends in a decision rather than a dashboard.
Why does this calculator come from an agency?
Because I publish pricing and most of this industry does not. My retainers are a flat $800 or $1,500/month with no contract — if the calculator says your budget is bigger than that, the difference goes to ad spend you own, not to my fee.