How Much Should Plastic Surgeons Spend on Digital Marketing?
Plastic surgery marketing isn’t “one-size-fits-all.” Because patients spend significant time researching surgeons, results, and reviews before booking, your digital budget has to support visibility and trust at every stage of that journey. Below, we break down what a well-balanced digital investment typically includes for plastic surgeons.
Contrary to what some may believe, a strong digital presence isn’t just a “nice extra” for plastic surgeons; it’s the way most patients meet you first. Long before someone books an appointment at your office, they’re scrolling galleries, comparing credentials, reading reviews, watching videos, and quietly deciding who feels right for them. Your website, search visibility, social content, and online reputation should shape trust at the exact moment patients are forming their short list.
At Rosemont Media, we’ve seen how the right investment paired with the right channel mix can turn online attention into consultations. Rather than spending blindly or chasing a universal number, our plastic surgery digital marketing experts aim to build a budget that reflects how patients actually search and choose, then apply it in a way that supports your specific goals.
In this guide, we’ll break down what a smart digital marketing budget looks like for plastic surgeons, what factors shape the number, and how to prioritize spending for sustainable growth.
Why Plastic Surgeons Need a Stronger Digital Budget
Two core realities make plastic surgery different from many other medical specialties:
- Patients take longer to decide. Because procedures are elective and personal, most people don’t book after one Google search. They research in waves. They compare before-and-afters, read multiple review sources, watch procedure explanations, and revisit your brand several times before they reach out. If your visibility drops out during that window, their attention will go somewhere else.
- Trust (and outcomes) are the conversion trigger. In aesthetic medicine, the “product” is confidence, safety, and results. A polished, credible website, a steady SEO footprint, and a social presence that shows real outcomes over time can move a potential patient from “curious” to “ready.” In other words, a digital marketing strategy should make patients feel secure choosing you.
So if your objective is meaningful growth (not simply maintaining the status quo), your digital spend needs to be intentional and sustained, not occasional.
What Your Digital Budget Typically Covers
Think of your marketing budget as an investment portfolio. It should be diversified, balanced, and tuned to how patients move through the decision journey. For plastic surgeons, that mix usually includes the following pieces.
1. Website + Ongoing Site Optimization
Your website is the central hub that every other channel supports. Search visibility, social campaigns, ads, email pushes – all of it should lead back to a site that builds trust and makes taking the next step easy.
When working with a top-tier agency on plastic surgery website design, the total cost usually lands between $10,000 and $40,000. Keep in mind, however, that a high-quality website is the foundation, and your site will still require post-launch care. Photos and galleries will need refreshing, procedure pages evolving, and mobile experience and speed tuning. Think of a high-converting site as a living asset rather than a one-time project.
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
SEO (along with GEO, which helps your content surface in AI-powered search overviews) is how you show up when someone searches “rhinoplasty surgeon near me” or “deep plane facelift results.” Our guidance on SEO for plastic surgeons puts many monthly SEO/content budgets in the $1,000 to $3,000 range, depending on competition and goals.
3. Paid Search and Local Visibility (PPC / LSAs)
Paid channels are often useful for capturing demand quickly, especially for high-value procedures or competitive cities. Rosemont Media positions PPC and Google Local Service Ads as strong complements to SEO, not replacements. They’re also flexible; campaigns can be expanded for seasonal pushes or dialed back when your consult calendar is full.
From a budgeting standpoint, practices often fall into these ranges:
- LSA budgets typically run around $1,200 to $1,500 per month.
- PPC budgets often average $1,000 to $2,000 per procedure per month, with the broad range reflecting market-driven pricing. In highly competitive areas like NY and LA, this can be higher.
- In total, most practices invest roughly $2,000 to $10,000 per month in paid ads, with a strong low-end average around $5,000/month and larger markets sometimes scaling to $20,000/month.
4. Social Media Marketing and Content Creation
Social media marketing is where patients decide whether they like your results, values, and vibe. A consistent feed of before-and-afters, education, and behind-the-scenes content can build familiarity and credibility over time. Video-heavy platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube) also increasingly function as search engines in their own right for aesthetic care.
Budgeting for social depends on whether the goal is long-term branding or short-term promotion. Branding-focused social campaigns often run about $750 to $2,000 per month, while promotional social campaigns for surgical or non-surgical services typically range from $2,000 to $5,000 per month.
5. Tracking & Attribution (Calls + Forms)
If you’re investing in digital marketing (especially paid ads), tracking where your leads come from is non-negotiable. Call tracking, in particular, helps identify which campaigns are actually driving consultation-ready patients, and it often reveals that your strongest leads are coming in by phone.
For most practices running ads, a dedicated call tracking setup should be built into the monthly budget, typically landing in the $1,500 to $2,000 per month range. Pairing this with form and email tracking gives you a full picture of patient origin, so you can double down on what’s working and stop spending on what isn’t.
6. Reputation and Reviews
In elective medicine, reviews are a conversion lever. Patients look for consistent feedback and real experiences. Our team often integrates review strategy directly into website UX and social planning to reinforce trust signals across channels.
How to Decide Your “Right” Number
Instead of chasing a single universal dollar amount, evaluate these variables and let performance guide the pace of your investment:
Your market competitiveness
- High-competition metros require more spend to gain or protect share.
- Lower-competition regions may allow smaller budgets to still win locally.
Your practice stage
- Newer or rebranding practices usually need heavier upfront investment to build awareness, authority, and a results portfolio online.
- Established practices may focus more on maintaining dominance, adding new services, or protecting their reputation from rising competitors.
Your procedure goals
If you’re pushing a high-revenue service line (like body contouring, facelift, or revision work), you may weight spend toward SEO + paid campaigns aimed at those specific searches and audiences. Our planning is procedure-targeted so budgets create measurable ROI.
Start focused, then scale with confidence
Rather than launching every channel at full speed on day one, many practices see better results by beginning with one primary strategy (for example, SEO/GEO or a single paid campaign), tracking it closely, and expanding organically as momentum builds. This avoids overspending early and lets you invest where you’re actually seeing traction.
Track outcomes, not just activity
Your budget should flex based on what’s performing. Give a campaign enough time to produce real data (typically around 90 days), and don’t hesitate to adjust, pause, or reallocate if results aren’t lining up with your goals.
A helpful benchmark is acquisition cost: if your tracking shows you’re bringing in surgical cases at roughly $250–$500 per patient, you’re in a strong position. Consistently below that range is an excellent sign that your marketing is outperforming the market. And while no system captures every patient touchpoint perfectly, these targets offer solid guardrails for smart decision-making.
The Takeaway
In general, we find that the best way to plan your digital marketing budget is to separate foundational investments from ongoing growth.
Many plastic surgeons start by funding core assets like a custom website (often $10,000 to $40,000) and a set of optimized procedure pages. From there, ongoing investment usually includes:
- $1,000 to $3,000 per month for SEO and GEO
- $2,000 to $10,000 per month for paid ads (often averaging near $5,000/month and rising in larger markets)
- Social media budgets that typically range from $750 to $2,000/month for branding or $2,000 to $5,000/month for promotional campaigns. If ads are running, call tracking in the $1,500 to $2,000/month range can directly tie those dollars to real patient outcomes.
If you want help mapping a digital marketing budget that makes sense for your market and your goals, Rosemont Media builds custom plans for plastic surgeons that align spend with real patient behavior and real growth. Get in touch with our team to learn more!