And why more ads usually isn't the fix. What a new client is really worth, the five things to check before you spend more, and the order that pays you back.
Here is the short answer. There is no magic percentage. How much your clinic should spend on marketing depends on what a new client is actually worth to you over time, and how many of them come back. If you don't know those two numbers, any marketing budget is a guess. And if you are already spending a lot on ads and feeling underwhelmed, more ads is very rarely the fix. Most of the time, the money is leaking after the client walks in, not before.
I say that with love, because I know how it feels. You are paying the agency, boosting the posts, running the intro offer, and the bookings still don't turn into the profit you were promised.
This is the belief I hear most from clinic owners, and I understand it. When money is tight, more clients feels like the obvious answer. It is also the answer every agency and platform is very happy to sell you.
Sometimes it is true. If your diary is genuinely empty, you do need more people walking through the door.
But for most owners I work with, the diary isn't empty. It is busy. The problem is that the clients coming in aren't worth as much as they should be. They come once on an intro offer and don't return. They book the lowest-margin treatment. They never get rebooked. So the clinic keeps paying to replace them.
More clients into a leaky clinic just means more hours for the same result. Fix the bucket, then fill it. Growth without profit is just pressure.
Before you set a budget, work out what one new client is worth to you. Not on their first visit. Over the time they stay with you.
Worked example, illustrative only. You spend $1,500 a month on ads and bring in 15 new clients. That is $100 to win each one. Their first visit is an intro facial at $150 excluding GST, and after products and the therapist's time you keep $95. On the first visit alone, every new client costs you money.
Now look at who comes back. Say 6 of those 15 become regulars, visiting 6 times a year, with $130 of gross profit each visit. That is 6 clients, times 6 visits, times $130, which is $4,680 of gross profit from your $1,500. Marketing that works.
Now say only 2 of the 15 come back. That is $1,560 of gross profit from $1,500 of ads, before you have paid for anything else. You are working all year to break even on your marketing.
Same ads, same spend, same agency. The only difference is how many clients came back. That is why the answer to "how much should I spend on marketing" starts inside the clinic, not inside the ads account.
You will see rules of thumb telling you to spend a certain percentage of your revenue on marketing. A percentage tells you how much you spent. It doesn't tell you what it brought back. Two clinics can spend exactly the same and get completely different results, because one rebooks its new clients and the other doesn't.
Set your budget from what a new client is worth to you and what it costs to win one. That gives you a number you can actually defend, and one that grows as your retention improves.
When I work through marketing with a clinic owner, we go in this order.
First, the clients you already have. Rebooking before they leave, treatment plans, reactivating clients who haven't been in for a while, and asking happy clients for referrals and Google reviews. This is the cheapest marketing you will ever do, and usually the most profitable.
Then, the people who are already looking for you. A strong Google Business Profile, reviews, and a website that makes it easy to book. These keep working quietly in the background.
Then, paid ads. Once you know what a client is worth and how many come back, ads become something you can scale with confidence. You know exactly what you can afford to pay for a new client, and you can tell an agency what success looks like instead of hoping they know.
This isn't about doing less marketing. The work is real. It is about putting your effort and your money where they actually come back to you.
The question isn't really "how much should I spend on marketing". It is "what is a client worth to me, and what am I doing to keep them". Answer that and the budget question almost answers itself. That's when marketing stops feeling like a cost you hope works and starts feeling like a decision you control.
If you want to see what your treatments actually leave you per visit, run them through the free Profit by Service calculator. And if you would rather work through your marketing and your numbers with someone, book a free Profit Strategy Call.
There is no single right percentage. Start with what a new client is worth to you over the time they stay, and how many new clients come back after their first visit. Set your budget from what it costs to win a client against what that client brings in, rather than from a percentage of revenue.
Often the ads are bringing people in, but the clinic isn't keeping them. If new clients come once on an intro offer and don't rebook, the ads never pay for themselves. Check your first-visit gross profit and your new client rebooking rate before changing the ads or the agency.
Your existing clients. Rebooking before they leave, treatment plans, reactivating lapsed clients, and asking happy clients for referrals and Google reviews all cost far less than paid ads, and those clients are usually more profitable.
It can work, as long as you know what it costs you and you have a plan to rebook those clients. A heavily discounted intro offer tends to attract bargain hunters. A considered offer, like a consultation with a treatment plan, tends to attract clients who stay.
Track where each new client comes from, how many come back, and the gross profit they bring in over a year. Compare that with what you spent to win them. If the gross profit is well above the cost, the marketing is working. If it is close to break-even, look at retention before spending more.
Marketing built on your margins is part of the work I do with owners as an aesthetic clinic business coach and a business coach for beauty and skin clinics. If you are thinking about a promotion this month, read what a Black Friday discount really costs your clinic first.
This article is general information for clinic and practice owners. The figures in the worked examples are illustrative, not industry statistics. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. Your own numbers, structure and obligations are a conversation for your accountant.
Thirty minutes to get to know you and your clinic, and see whether I can help. You leave clear on your next move.
Free, 30 minutes, no prep needed.