A carefully planned marketing budget is the cornerstone of a successful medical spa. It will provide you with a framework to monitor your marketing spending. It will also help you stay on track as you pursue your business goals. Below are five key steps to follow as you begin your medical spa marketing budget planning.
Step One: List your key business objectives for your medical spa
Know what you would like to accomplish with your medical spa. This is the most critical step in the marketing budget planning process. Failure to have a clear understanding of your business goals will heighten your medical spa’s risk of failure. If you are having a difficult time identifying your business goals, you can begin the process by asking yourself the following simple questions.
- “WHO are the primary types of prospects or customers that I am hoping to attract to my med spa?”
- “WHAT are the top three goals that I would like my med spa to achieve over the next year?”
- “HOW would I like my med spa to benefit clients, stakeholders, and employees?”
- “WHAT amount (if any) am I currently spending on marketing initiatives?”
Step Two: Determine the operational costs for your business
“Calculating operating costs requires only that you add up the expenses that make up your annual fixed costs and your variable costs. Fixed costs are the expenses the business incurs even if it doesn’t sell any goods or services…Variable costs are expenditures directly related to producing and selling goods or services.”
– William Adkins, bizfluent
Now that you have clearly identified your business objectives, outline the costs of operating your med spa. You must know how much it will cost to cover fixed and variable operating costs. This will help you determine how much you can afford to devote to your marketing budget. Fixed costs typically include predictable expenses like utilities, salaries, rent, and taxes. Variable costs include expenses that can fluctuate, such as sales commissions and fuel charges.
Your marketing expenses could be fixed or variable. This depends on whether you use an in-house team or hire an agency. Some med spa owners who already have a salaried marketing coordinator on their payroll may opt to augment their marketing efforts by enlisting the services of an agency that specializes in marketing for medical spas.
Step Three: List your current marketing assets
No two med spas are exactly alike in terms of their existing marketing assets. This step involves careful evaluation of your existing marketing initiatives. Then you can pinpoint the areas that will require the most attention and marketing resources. Here are some questions to ask to help you progress through Step Three:
- How long has it been since you updated or redesigned your website?
- How many prospects are visiting your medical spa’s website each month?
- Do currently have a database that includes the email address and mailing address of your med spa customers?
- How many leads is your medical spa’s website producing on a monthly basis?
- Do you have a strong social media presence?
Step Four: Decide whether you wish to use in-house staff or hire a marketing agency
“Many small businesses might try to assign marketing duties to an administrative employee and hope for the best. Unfortunately, that approach doesn’t usually produce good results…It’s much better to contract or hire an actual marketing specialist.”
– Catherine Cantieri, Reliance Staffing & Recruiting
If your med spa has been operational for a year or two, you may already have one or more in-house staff members who handle marketing tasks. However, even if you have a designated in-house marketer, it is likely that he or she does not possess the full constellation of specialty skills required to handle a growing med spa. Additionally, survey research results indicate that 80% of marketers say they are understaffed and overloaded with work. This means that you may be selling yourself short by not seeking the expertise of a specialty agency.
A growing number of medical spa owners are enjoying the benefits of using a specialty agency to handle their marketing tasks. This strategy helps spa owners reduce expenses by eliminating the costs associated with hiring, training, and benefits. Michael Evans, Managing Director of Newport Board Group, notes that the upfront costs of hiring an agency may be higher than managing marketing initiatives in-house, “but the results and return on investment could justify the additional expenditures.”
Step Five: Review your marketing budget plan at least once each year
“The end of the year is an excellent time to review the previous year’s successes and failures. You can also look at opportunities you didn’t have resources to capitalize on. As a team, take this into consideration as you evaluate your marketing goals and vision for the next year…This will help effectively allocate funds for the next budget year.”
– Holly Mason, President and Owner of MasonBaronet
Some medical spa owners mistakenly assume the budget planning process is over once they have finished preparing their marketing budget for the upcoming year. However, you must regularly review it in conjunction with your business goals. This is the only way to ensure that your budget is effective. Here are some suggestions to help you continue to optimize your marketing budget planning:
- Identify campaigns that produced the highest and lowest ROI
- Eliminate strategies that failed to make a significant contribution to your bottom line
- Review findings in conjunction with sales leadership to ensure that sales and marketing strategies are well aligned
What is the single best way to develop a stellar marketing budget for your med spa?
As outlined above, there are several key factors to keep in mind for your marketing budget planning. However, the single best way to ensure that you optimize your medical spa’s budget is to seek the expertise of an industry expert. With the help of a digital marketing specialist who focuses on med spas, you can develop a budget that will drive more traffic to your med spa without hampering your cash flow.
As the nation’s most trusted medical spa marketing agency, MedSpa Growth and Profitability has the experience and resources to help your spa thrive – even if you are operating with limited resources. Since 2013, the MedSpa Growth and Profitability team has helped over 800 medical spa owners bolster their sales by helping them refine their approach to marketing. We encourage you to get started by taking this short quiz to find out whether you are leaving money on the table. We look forward to helping your med spa achieve its goals!