A plastic surgery marketing agency can save a busy surgeon time, or quietly cost a year of budget and leave the practice without its own ad accounts. The difference shows up in a few specific places: what they report, how they handle patient photos, who owns the accounts, and whether they'll sign a business associate agreement. This guide lists what agencies typically include, what to ask, the red flags, and how a platform such as Medfy compares, using facts only.
What plastic surgery agencies typically include
Service lists vary, but agencies serving aesthetic practices commonly offer some mix of:
- Website design and hosting, often with a before-and-after gallery
- SEO content and local listings
- Google search ads and Meta ads
- Organic social media posting and short video
- Review requests and reputation monitoring
- Email or text campaigns to past patients
- Photography, video production and creator partnerships
- Lead handling or call-center services
What good looks like: a written scope that names each deliverable, monthly reporting that ends in consults and surgeries, accounts in the practice's name, a signed BAA wherever patient data is touched, and no surprises in the contract. For the general version of this decision, see healthcare marketing agencies; for how agency work fits a plastic surgery plan, see the plastic surgery marketing hub.
Before you sign anything, get an independent marketing audit of where you stand today. It gives you a baseline to judge any agency's results against.
Reporting: consults, surgeries booked and revenue by source
Clicks, impressions and "leads" are activity, not results. Ask every agency to show a sample report and look for this chain:
- Spend by channel and campaign
- Inquiries (calls, forms, messages) by source
- Consults booked and attended
- Surgeries booked and, if you share it, revenue
- Cost per consult and cost per surgery by channel
The agency can't see surgeries unless you share them, so agree how that happens: a monthly export from your practice system with no clinical detail, or a coordinator's tally by source. If an agency resists consult-level reporting, it's telling you how it wants to be judged.
Also ask how they'll measure campaigns without sending patient data to ad platforms. Pixels on consult forms or confirmation pages that reveal a procedure are a privacy risk; an agency that can't explain its tracking setup in plain words is a risk too. Channel-by-channel trade-offs are in plastic surgery advertising.
Photo, review and testimonial practices to audit
Under the ASPS Code of Ethics (opens in a new tab) (updated January 2025), a member surgeon is personally responsible for Code violations committed by an advertising or PR firm the surgeon retains, and must approve every ad before it runs. So audit the agency's habits as if they were your own.
Photos. Each patient photo, video or testimonial used in marketing needs a written HIPAA authorization under 45 CFR 164.508 (opens in a new tab). Ask who collects it, whether it names each channel (website, social, ads), where signed forms and image files are stored, and how a revocation reaches every post. Compare their answers with our photo consent practices.
Image honesty. The ASPS Code treats before-and-after pairs shot with different light, poses or techniques as misleading, and requires disclosure of atypical results and of models who didn't have the procedure. Ask whether the agency retouches "after" images. The answer should be no.
Reviews. The FTC's final rule on fake reviews (opens in a new tab) bans buying fake or AI-generated reviews, paying for reviews conditioned on positive sentiment, and undisclosed reviews from staff. Ask how the agency requests reviews and whether it filters who gets asked. Never let anyone reply to a review in a way that confirms the reviewer is a patient.
Creators and giveaways. Free procedures for creators are a material connection the FTC Endorsement Guides (opens in a new tab) require to be disclosed in each post. And the ASPS Code bars members from contests or raffles where the prize is a procedure or an integral part of one, such as breast implants, so an agency pitching a "win a free tummy tuck" giveaway doesn't know the specialty.
Pricing models and contract terms
Agencies price in a few common ways:
| Model | How it works | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly retainer | Fixed fee for a defined scope | What happens when scope grows |
| Percentage of ad spend | Fee rises with your budget | Incentive to raise spend |
| Setup or build fee | One-time charge for site or accounts | Who owns what was built |
| Per lead or per consult | Pay per result | How a "lead" is defined; duplicates |
| Media markup | Ad spend billed through the agency | Whether you can see the platform invoices |
What drives cost: how many channels they run, ad budget size, content and video production, creative volume, reporting depth and contract length.
Contract terms to read twice: minimum term and auto-renewal, notice period, early-exit fees, who owns the website and content, whether ad accounts and data transfer to you on exit, and whether ad spend is billed separately. Our guide to agency contract terms covers the clauses in more detail.
Ownership and access to your accounts
Insist that the practice owns, and the agency is a removable user on:
- Domain name and DNS
- Website files and content, including gallery images and consent records
- Google Ads account and billing
- Meta business portfolio, Page, Instagram account and ad account
- Google Business Profile, with the practice as primary owner
- Analytics and Search Console properties
- Phone numbers used in ads
Check this before the first payment. Accounts created under an agency's name can take years of performance history, audiences and reviews with them when you leave.
HIPAA and the business associate agreement
A vendor that creates, receives, maintains or transmits protected health information (PHI) for your practice is a business associate under 45 CFR 160.103 (opens in a new tab). Patient photos, inquiry forms with health details, review responses and DMs are PHI. Before sharing any of it, you need satisfactory written assurances from the vendor, documented in a business associate agreement (BAA), under 45 CFR 164.502(e) (opens in a new tab).
45 CFR 164.504(e) (opens in a new tab) lists what the contract must say: permitted uses, safeguards, breach reporting, and that subcontractors agree to the same restrictions. An agency that says "we don't need a BAA, we only handle marketing" while collecting consult forms or patient photos has misread the rule.
Question checklist for plastic surgery agencies:
- Show me a sample report with consults and surgeries by source.
- Will every account be registered to my practice?
- Do you mark up ad spend, and can I see the platform invoices?
- Who collects photo authorizations, and where are they stored?
- Do you retouch before-and-after images?
- How do you request reviews, and do you filter who is asked?
- How do you disclose creator partnerships?
- Will you sign a BAA? Who are your subcontractors?
- Where do pixels and tags fire on my site?
- What is the minimum term, the notice period and the exit fee?
- What do I get back, in what format, when we part ways?
Printable version: the checklist fits on one page. Print this section, or copy it into your notes, for agency calls.
Agency vs platform: a factual comparison
A platform such as Medfy publishes its scope and price. An agency's scope and price vary by contract, so the "Agency" column describes what to confirm.
| Item | Typical agency | Medfy |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Varies; rarely published | $349/month base plan |
| Ads management | Varies; confirm what's included | Google Ads add-on $199/month; Meta ads + AI creatives add-on $199/month |
| AI chat | Varies | HIPAA AI chat widget add-on $49/month |
| Ad spend | Paid direct or billed with a markup; confirm | Paid directly to Google and Meta, never marked up |
| Term | Often a minimum term; confirm | Billed monthly, cancel anytime |
| BAA | Confirm in writing | Signed with every practice before patient data flows |
| Website | Varies | Rebuilt and hosted on your own domain |
| Organic social, reviews, email/SMS | Varies; confirm | Not offered |
When an agency is the better fit: you want someone to post on Instagram for you, film video, run review or email programs, manage creators, or plan consult events. Medfy doesn't do those. When a platform fits: you want a fast website, weekly SEO content, AI visibility tracking, first-party analytics and optional ad management at a published monthly price. See Medfy pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a plastic surgery marketing agency cost?
Agencies rarely publish prices, and models vary: monthly retainers, a percentage of ad spend, setup fees, per-lead charges or a mix. Ask for the total monthly cost with ad spend shown separately, any markup on media, the minimum term and exit fees. Compare that total with consults and surgeries delivered, not with clicks or impressions. Published-price platforms are another reference point.
What should a plastic surgeon ask a marketing agency?
Ask how they report consults and surgeries by source, who owns the ad accounts, domain and content, whether they mark up ad spend, how they collect and store patient photo authorizations, how they handle reviews and creator disclosure, whether they will sign a BAA, and what happens to your data and accounts if you leave. Ask for the answers in writing.
Who should own a plastic surgery practice's ad accounts?
The practice. Your Google Ads account, Meta business assets, Google Business Profile, domain, analytics and website content should be registered to the practice, with the agency added as a user it can remove. If an agency builds accounts in its own name, you can lose your history, audiences and reviews when the contract ends.