How to choose a med spa marketing agency: 12 questions to ask before you sign

Every agency that pitches a med spa promises growth. Most deliver a monthly report. These twelve questions, asked on the first call, tell you which kind you're talking to. The good ones will enjoy answering them.

1. What will you build in the first thirty days?

The right answer names things: treatment pages with cost ranges, the injector filmed, the Google listing fixed, booking with deposits, the review request. The wrong answer is "a strategy."

2. How do you get med spa ads approved?

They should know what gets rejected (promised results, before-and-afters that imply guarantees) and how to write around it. If they've never had an ad rejected, they've never run med spa ads.

3. Who owns the accounts, the pages and the data?

You do. The ad accounts, the website, the booking system, the reviews, the patient list. An agency that keeps any of it is renting you your own business.

4. What do you measure?

Booked consults, show rate, consult-to-patient, rebooking at twelve weeks, members. If the answer is impressions, reach or followers, end the call.

5. What happens when someone DMs at 11pm?

They should have a plan: an automatic reply with the booking link, a human in the morning. If they haven't thought about it, the leads they generate will leak.

6. Do you take deposits, and how do you handle no-shows?

Deposits on every booking, a reschedule text within the hour after a no-show. An agency that only does ads and not this will spend your money on people who don't show.

7. How do you bring patients back at twelve weeks?

The week-ten text, the membership offer after visit two. If they don't have a rebooking system, they're selling you first visits forever.

8. Will the injector need to be on camera?

Yes, and they should say so, and they should make it easy: one session a month, ten clips.

9. What have you done for a spa like mine?

A specific story with numbers, or an honest "you'd be our first med spa, here's what we've done in a similar business." Both are fine. A vague "we work with lots of med spas" is not.

10. What does the contract look like?

Month to month after a short setup period, with a clear list of what's built and what's ongoing. Twelve-month lock-ins with nothing built in month one are a red flag.

11. What will you tell me not to do?

A good agency will tell you to stop the Groupon, stop posting at 10pm, and stop measuring followers. If they agree with everything you're doing now, they need your money more than you need them.

12. What's the total cost, including ad spend?

A number, on the first call, with what it buys. Fee plus a recommended ad budget plus the tools. If they can't say it plainly, the invoices won't be plain either.