Medical Spas and Aesthetic practices represent one of the fastest-growing fields in the healthcare industry.

According to EHI Insights, The global medical spa market is projected to be worth $27.6 billion by 2025, a growth rate of 12.2%.

To help you stand out and get consistent leads and patients for your med spa practice, you need new marketing channels that work — mostly online marketing channels.

In this guide, you’ll discover 21st-Century marketing channels that ‘smart’ med spa owners and physicians are using to get sales-converting leads and patients.

In addition, we’ll share some examples of medical spas that are leveraging each marketing channel to increase their profit.

Here are the 9 effective Med Spa marketing channels:

1. Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads

Using pay-per-click advertising or PPC for short can be effective in driving new patient traffic to your medical spa’s website.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads

Source: Bluehost

You can laser-target your Google ads to the exact audience you want — so that when users click on a PPC ad, they are 50% more likely to convert.

Your Google Ads (text-based) will ONLY be served to search users, like so:

Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads_2

When you run Google Ads, you want to achieve two important things:

  • Increase Click-Through Rate (CTR) on your ads
  • Reduce Cost Per Click (CPC) on your ads.

If you can continually optimize for these two factors, you’ll succeed with Google Ads.

Contour Med Spa ran a Google Ads campaign through a third party and kept optimizing its ads until the CTR was at 3.4%, which is above the industry average of 3.3%. This resulted in hundreds of new leads and patients for the practice.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads_3

Source: Hyportdigital

A PPC campaign can yield immediate results. With proper planning, a PPC campaign can generate new patients per month to your med spa center.

First, set up a Google Ads account for your medical spa. You will also need to create a landing page that matches your ad copy message.

Choosing the right keywords is crucial. You can use Google’s keyword planner to find relevant keywords that will drive leads to your practice.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads_4

Source: Ads.google.com

Pro tip: Set up an ad group for your medical spa and create separate landing pages that are hyper-focused on the keywords you selected.

For example, if you’re targeting the best med spa in Calgary, then your landing page must have that keyword bolded displayed in the title.

Drive clicks to a landing page that matches the keywords and ad copy.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising on Google Ads_5

Source: Instapage

2. Display Ads

Digital display ads are great options for diversifying your traffic and lead generation sources.

Luma Med Spa generated 1,000+ leads through display advertising and made its first $40,000 from this marketing channel.

Display Ads

Source: Sparkmedicalmarketing.com

Display ads for medical spas differ from search ads in structure and placement. While pay-per-click ads are based on cost per click (CPC), display ads are based on impressions — the number of views the ad generated. It’s usually 1,000 views.

Also, Search ads consist of a headline, URL, and description, while display ads may contain images, videos, flash media, or logos.

Both types of advertisements can target specific demographics. A good campaign will display ads tailored to the people most likely to benefit from a particular service or treatment.

Unlike traditional display ads, CTR for digital display ads is 8.8x higher.

Display Ads_2

Source: Slidegeeks.com

Display ads appear on Google partner websites including individual websites that you visit — such as Healthline, WebMD, NYTimes, VeryWellFit, etc.

Here’s an example of a display ad for a Med Spa:

Display Ads_3

Note: You can create beautiful display banners before setting up your Google Display ads using Canva or Snappa.

Display ads for med spas are more effective if they include links to information-packed content.

The potential client can then visit your website or request a free consultation. Here’s a good example from Stadia Med Spa:

Display Ads_4

Source: Stadiamedspa.com

Once they submit their full name, email address, and phone number, you have a warm lead that you can follow up on to engage and convert to a new patient.

3. Social Media Advertising

Med Spas can use the power of social media to attract new patients.

However, a typical social media ad doesn’t always work with Med Spa. At Omnicore, we’ve been able to get the ideal leads and patients through social media contests.

For example, a contest can offer a free consultation or 50% off a first visit. Or you can offer discounts on the different med spa services you provide, as Starwood Med Spa did:

Social Media Advertising

Source: Starwoodmedspa.com

These types of offers are extremely effective for getting new patients since they encourage customers to come back more often.

Using social media to promote a med spa is a great way to get new patients.

Since you’re targeting younger demographics (mostly 18 – 38 years old), you can use pictures and videos of your patients to highlight the benefits of your services.

Another way to leverage the power of social media is by sharing case studies to illustrate a real-life example of how a treatment works and how happy your patients have been since they left your center.

By publishing articles that show new treatments and techniques, you’ll show potential patients that you’re cutting edge and committed to their health. Then use social media marketing to promote this engaging content.

4. Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads

Facebook & Instagram lead ads are powerful tools for attracting leads and new patients to your med spas. 

A local med spa generated 95 leads in 2 months through Facebook & Instagram ads targeted at local adults who are interested in specific medical spa services.

Here’s a screenshot of the campaign statistics showing ad spend, CPC on ad spend, lead generated, and time frame:

Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads

Source: Shockleymarketing.com

Lead ads are quite different from typical Facebook and Instagram advertising. With Instagram lead ads, for example, you can get leads directly on Instagram without having to push users to an external website.

The mechanism behind Facebook & Instagram lead ads is simple:

When users click on your lead ad, their personal details on their Facebook profile will be pre-filled and you can send these contacts to your email marketing software.

Note: You can create both Facebook & Instagram lead ads at once from your Facebook Ad Manager, or exclude one of the channels if you want Instagram-only or Facebook-only ads. Your ads will show on users’ feeds.

Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads_2

Source: Strikesocial.com

The key to winning with lead ads is to make the rewards meaningful and relevant to your patients. It’s also important to consider what you can offer them beyond your usual treatments and procedures.

For instance, you could offer a membership for preventive skin care, which includes chemical peels and microdermabrasion treatments.

Another idea is to offer a monthly Botox treatment or any of your services.

Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads_3

Source: Botox

While attracting new patients is important, it’s also important to increase repeat business. Hence, you can set up Facebook and Instagram Lead Ads to target custom audiences or lookalike audiences.

Facebook & Instagram Lead Ads_4

Source: Facebook

This is the best way to reach users who have benefitted from your med spa services or have even visited your center in the past.

In fact, this study from LinkedIn shows that repeat customers are more likely to purchase from a med spa and spend more money than new leads.

This is because they have established trust from the first visit. If you can reinforce their positive experience with targeted emails, you can convert these loyal patients into brand advocates.

5. Business Listings and Directories

One effective marketing channel that benefits all local businesses, including med spas, is an online business listing (citations) on directories.

There are hundreds of local directories where you can list your practice and be found by potential leads in your geographic areas.

Business Listings and Directories

Getting listed on various directories can also improve organic search rankings and drive more traffic to your med spa website.

But not all local listings and directories are created equal. You should focus on credible directories if you want to increase your chances of ranking higher on Google map packs and organic results.

Start by claiming your business profile on Google My Business. Once you have successfully set up your profile, go to the local directories below and get listed:

  • Yelp
  • Foursquare
  • City Pages
  • Zocdoc
  • Yellowbook
  • Superpages

Google My Business makes it easy for patients and clients to write online reviews about your med spa.

These online reviews are important for social proof and online credibility. Reviews can also improve your search rankings.

You can also share helpful posts on your Google My Business Profile, which will lead to increased visibility and organic traffic to your website.

When users search for the keyword “Med Spa in California”, you can see that La Bella Vita Medi Spa, ID Medical Spa, and Medspa California are ranking in the Google map pack because their websites were properly optimized for local searches, coupled with lots of patient reviews, directory listings, and links from relevant & credible websites.

Business Listings and Directories_2

One rule of thumb is to use correct and consistent Name, Address, and Phone Number (NAP) across your listings on directories and Google My Business Profile.

For example, when you add 76 2nd Avenue as your address on Google Profile, but 76 Second Avenue on directories, then you’re not being consistent.

This practice will affect your organic rankings on map packs. If it’s “2nd” then keep it at that — and not “second” elsewhere. You get the idea.

6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an effective marketing channel for medical spa practices.

Unlike Google Ads, Facebook & Instagram Advertising, SEO is completely free to execute if you decide to do it yourself.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

With a solid SEO strategy, you get:

  • A higher position in the SERPs
  • Stand out from the competition
  • Drive traffic to your med spa website
  • Get visitors to book free consultations on your website
  • Get phone calls or visits to your center, etc.

But to really get significant results, you should consider working with an SEO team that knows what they’re doing.

Book a Free Strategy Session with Omnicore to get your questions answered and get a blueprint of how we can get 20 - 50 new leads to your med spa every month.

To generate more leads for your Med Spa practice, you need to improve your online presence. Patients looking for healthcare services are likely to type in their location into search engines like Google.

So make sure you’re targeting local-based keywords such as:

  • Med spa near me
  • Medical spa services in Chicago
  • Lip filler near me
  • Best med spa center
  • CoolSculpting near me
  • How much does Coolsculpting cost?

If you’re targeting “How much does Coolsculpting cost?” then make sure you use it in the title of your page, within the first paragraph, then focus on the ‘intent’ or purpose of the keyword and address that intent while using the keyword and its variations throughout your post (naturally).

Suite 103, a Med Spa in Greater Salem, NH implemented On-Page SEO and got 23 keywords to rank in position #1, 36 keywords in top #3, and 49 keywords on page #1. While SEO typically takes time, these impressive results happened in just 30 days.

Prior to taking this step, the practice had zero rankings in the first position.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)_1

Source: Brandignity.com

The lifeblood of SEO is high-quality content. So make sure your med spa’s website is optimized for the keywords that people are searching for.

Also, incorporate blogging into the mix so that you can constantly target relevant keywords that your potential customers are searching for and rank organically.

7. YouTube Marketing

Using YouTube marketing to get leads to med spas can be a powerful way to advertise. Keep in mind that YouTube marketing covers:

  • YouTube Advertising: Placing ads on YouTube videos
  • YouTube content creation: Creating videos to get organic views from the YouTube platform via your channel

In terms of ROI, several studies revealed that YouTube ads deliver better ROI than TV ads.

YouTube Marketing

In your videos, you can educate your prospects about upcoming procedures and the latest technology. Or share some tips and best practices when embarking on any procedure.

39% of business owners believe that video is “very important” to their marketing strategy. It’s essential for attracting leads and building trust with the target audience.

YouTube Marketing_2

To win at YouTube marketing, your videos should contain a dose of entertainment and education.

This will encourage your prospects to visit your channel often, expect new videos, and get inspired to call or visit your center.

By consistently publishing helpful videos, you’ll cement the trust between you and your prospective patients.

YouTube is a recommendation engine. This means that your videos will be recommended to users that YouTube deems fit based on multiple touchpoints of data it has about the users.

The type of content that gets recommended are stories, behind-the-scenes, or curiosity-based topics.

Below, the owner of Skin Heaven Med Spa shared a video of how she started a Med Spa at the age of 27.

YouTube Marketing_3

The video already generated 16,000 views and you can bet that some of these viewers have become patients/clients for the practice.

As with any social media campaign, you should define your goals. What exactly do you want your videos to accomplish?

In the case of a med spa, typical goals include generating new leads, increasing awareness of the facility, and nurturing current leads.

Once you have decided what your goals are, you can get started creating video content that will build relationships with your viewers.

Don’t forget to send viewers to your website to book a free consultation with your team or simply send an email to get their questions answered.

8. Influencer Marketing

Influencers are social media users who have a large following.

They can influence the public’s opinion, and they can target a certain demographic.

For example, if you offer skincare or hair treatments, you should partner with beauty influencers. They have thousands of followers on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, you name it.

Ultimately, you can your ideal clients or potential patients to request a free consultation through your influencer marketing campaigns on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, or even blogging.

Influencer Marketing

Source: Dermanimedspa.com

When it comes to influencer marketing, though, you need to target micro-influencers with enough engagement metrics.

Micro-influencers have a smaller following (10k – 100k) than big influencers, but they are still very influential.

Influencer Marketing_4

Source: Later.com

It’s true that a micro influencer’s fan base may be a lot smaller than those of Kim Kardashian and other a-list celebrities (with tens of millions of followers), but they have a loyal following and can help generate leads for your med spa.

This is a great way to promote your med spa without spending a lot of time, and it’s a great way to increase your brand awareness.

The key to generating leads for your medspa is to find influential people in your industry and follow them on social media.

Compared to other forms of marketing channels highlighted on this page, 86% of business owners say ROI from influencer marketing is much comparably better.

Influencer Marketing_2

Source: Publicfast.com

While you will need to spend a few hundred dollars to engage with these ‘micro-influencers,’ you can expect to see hundreds of dollars in additional revenue from the effort.

9. Content Marketing

Content marketing and SEO usually work together. Because when you consistently create high-quality content, Google will reward you will traffic.

However, you can get traffic from other sources other than Google or any other search engine. That’s the difference!

You can get direct traffic through guest blogging, Pinterest marketing, or even answering questions on Quora and linking to your website.

If you want to get more patients and leads for your med spa, using Content Marketing is crucial. It’s a proven marketing channel.

Through content marketing (particular blogging), you can rank for high-volume keywords. For example, RealSelf ranks at #3 for “How much does CoolSculping cost?” This keyword has 12,000+ monthly organic searches in the U.S., alone.

Content Marketing

This keyword could be generating warm leads and new patients every single week for this practice. Here’s the blog post in question:

Content Marketing_1

Source: Realself.com

Content marketing works because you’re attracting leads and patients. You’re making them come to you instead of constantly hunting for them.

It’s all about the “People” and what they truly “want”, according to Gartner.

Content Marketing_2

Source: Gartner.com

Content marketing focuses on the patient experience, creating content that helps them out, and in turn, building your brand along the way.

It is also important to provide relevant content that piques the interest of your visitors.

Blogging is one of the best forms of content marketing. Consistent blogging boosts ROI.

Content Marketing_3

So while blogging, make it personalized with before and after pictures of your patients and customers, share patient testimonials, and embed engaging videos as well.

Conclusion

Building a thriving medical spa business is not an easy job. The Medspa industry is fast-growing and you can expect even more competition too.

It’s more crucial today than ever to embrace new trends and marketing channels to stay afloat and establish a profitable practice.

With so many marketing channels out there, knowing where to start, how much to spend, and what ROI to expect from each channel can be intimidating to figure out.

That’s why we’re here to help you get leads for your Med Spa. Get started today — Book a free Strategy Session today and we’ll help you develop a solid marketing strategy.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Salman Aslam
Salman Aslam is the Managing Director at Omnicore, a leading Healthcare Digital Advertising & Marketing Agency helping clients across the globe. You can follow him on Twitter for tweets and rants about the latest news, tips, and advice on digital marketing.