"How much should I be spending on marketing?" is one of the most common questions we get from therapists considering paid advertising for the first time. And it's a reasonable question — but it's also slightly the wrong question.
The right question is: what return do I need to make this worthwhile? Once you know that, the budget question answers itself.
Start with the economics of your practice
Before you think about marketing budget, you need to understand the economics of a new client for your practice. Specifically:
- Your session rate: How much do you charge per session?
- Average sessions per client: How many sessions does a typical client attend?
- Client lifetime value: Your session rate × average sessions = the revenue a new client generates
For a therapist charging £80/session with an average of 12 sessions per client, the lifetime value of a new client is £960. For a therapist charging £120/session with an average of 20 sessions, it's £2,400.
Now ask yourself: how much would you be willing to spend to acquire a new client who generates £960–£2,400 in revenue? Most businesses would happily spend 10–20% of customer lifetime value on acquisition. For a therapy practice, that's £96–£480 per new client.
What does it actually cost to acquire a client through Google Ads?
The cost per new client acquisition through Google Ads varies by location and speciality, but here are realistic ranges based on the practices we work with:
- Rural or small-town practice: £50–£120 per new client
- Mid-size city: £100–£200 per new client
- Major city (London, New York, Sydney): £150–£350 per new client
These figures assume a well-structured campaign with a dedicated landing page. If you're sending traffic to your main website homepage, your cost per acquisition will be significantly higher — because the conversion rate is lower.
Against a client lifetime value of £960–£2,400, even the highest end of these ranges (£350 per client in a major city) represents an excellent return on investment.
The minimum viable budget
Google Ads works on an auction system — you bid for ad placements, and the cost per click varies based on competition. In most markets, therapy-related keywords cost between £1.50 and £5.00 per click.
To generate enough data to optimise a campaign effectively, you need at least 30–50 clicks per month. At £3 per click, that's £90–£150/month minimum. In practice, we recommend a minimum ad spend of £300–£400/month to see consistent results. Below this, the volume is too low to optimise effectively.
At £400/month in ad spend, a campaign converting at 7% (which is typical for a well-built landing page) generates approximately 9–10 enquiries per month. At a 60% enquiry-to-booking rate, that's 5–6 new clients per month. At £960 lifetime value each, that's £4,800–£5,760 in new revenue per month from a £400 investment.
How to think about budget at different stages
Just starting out (0–5 clients)
If you're just launching your practice, your priority is filling your caseload as quickly as possible. A budget of £300–£500/month in ad spend is usually sufficient to generate a consistent flow of enquiries in most markets. This is a relatively modest investment given the return, and it can pay for itself with a single new client.
Growing (5–15 clients, want to fill up)
If you have some clients but want to fill your remaining slots, you need enough ad spend to generate the volume of enquiries required. Work backwards: if you need 3 new clients per month and your cost per acquisition is £150, you need £450/month in ad spend. Add a buffer of 20–30% for optimisation and you're at £540–£585/month.
Scaling (full caseload, expanding to group practice)
If you're at capacity and looking to add therapists to your practice, your marketing budget needs to scale accordingly. A group practice adding two new therapists needs enough new client volume to fill both caseloads — which typically means doubling or tripling the ad spend.
What about the management fee?
If you're working with an agency like TheraFlow Systems, there's a management fee on top of the ad spend. This covers campaign setup, ongoing management, landing page build, CRM configuration, and reporting.
The management fee varies by agency and scope of work. When evaluating whether it's worth it, the question to ask is: what's the difference in results between a well-managed campaign and a self-managed one? In our experience, the difference is significant — both in terms of the volume of enquiries generated and the cost per acquisition. A poorly structured campaign can cost 2–3× more per new client than a well-structured one.
The real cost of not marketing
One thing that often gets overlooked in the budget conversation is the cost of not marketing. Every month that your caseload is less than full is a month of lost revenue. If you have 10 empty slots at £80/session × 4 weeks, that's £3,200/month in unrealised revenue.
Against that number, a marketing investment of £500–£800/month (ad spend plus management) looks very different. It's not a cost — it's the mechanism for recovering that lost revenue.
Want a personalised projection? Our free ROI calculator lets you input your session rate, target number of new clients, and location to get a realistic estimate of what Google Ads would cost and return for your specific practice.
About TheraFlow Systems: We're a done-for-you marketing agency working exclusively with therapists and private practice owners in the US, UK, and Australia. We build the Google Ads campaigns, landing pages, and client management systems that bring a steady stream of ideal clients to your practice.