How to Choose a Permanent Makeup (PMU) Marketing Company
The best PMU marketing company for you is the one that gets consultations to show up in your studio, so judge each one on what happens after a lead comes in, how it gets paid, whose ad account the ads run on and how you'd cancel. Ask for proof with dates and counts, and watch for red flags like guaranteed income or bookings, long lock-in contracts and reports that count leads instead of consults that show up.
By Evan Marrone, cofounder, builds the system · Updated
Start with what you're actually buying
You're not really buying ads, clicks or leads. You're buying consultations that show up in your studio, because that's where someone decides whether to book her brows or lip blush with you.
Getting there takes two kinds of work. First, ads find people near you and get them to fill out a form. That's a lead: a name and a phone number. Then someone has to text her back, answer her questions, book her and remind her. Some marketing companies do both. Some run the ads and hand the leads to you. Find out which one you're talking to before you compare prices.
Then look at how they get paid, because it shows what they're paid to care about. Most offers are a monthly retainer, a fee per lead, a fee per consult that shows up, or a course or coaching program. The question that matters is who carries the risk when nobody books. A retainer, a per-lead fee or a course costs you the same either way. With pay per show, the company's fee depends on consults showing up, though you still pay for the ads. Our guide to PMU marketing pricing models walks through all four, and it's linked at the end of this page.
Last, ask what counts as a result. It decides what they report to you, and often what you pay for:
- A lead: someone filled out your form. She may never answer a text.
- A booked consult: she picked a time. She can still cancel or not come.
- A consult that shows up: she's in your studio. That's the number to judge them on.
What happens after a lead comes in
The ad's job ends when she sends the form. What happens next decides whether she becomes a consult, so ask about it as closely as you ask about the ads.
Speed comes first, and leads don't keep studio hours. In the studios we work with, 43% of lead form fills arrived between 8pm and 7am, and the busiest hour of the day was 9pm (14,067 leads across 36 studios, Jun 1 to Oct 20, 2026). And 58% of people who booked a consult did it within 24 hours of filling out the form (1,148 people across 26 studios, form fills Jun 1 to Sep 20, 2026). If she fills out your form at night and hears nothing until the next afternoon, that first day is gone.
People also go quiet and still book. In those same studios, more than a third of the people who booked went quiet for a day or more first, and most of them came back within a day of a text from the studio (412 of 1,148 people, form fills Jun 1 to Sep 20, 2026). So ask whether anyone texts again after the first day, and for how long.
Then ask who's doing the answering. Leads ask real questions, and price comes up a lot: 44% of leads who texted asked about price or cost (7,716 leads across 36 studios, Jun 1 to Oct 20, 2026). Whoever texts her back, a person or an AI assistant, has to know your prices, your services and your booking rules, and sound like your studio.
What good looks like, whoever does it:
- Every new lead hears back fast, nights and weekends included.
- Her questions get real answers, in your studio's voice.
- Consults go onto your own calendar.
- People who go quiet get followed up with.
- Booked consults get reminders.
- You can read every conversation and step in.
Your ad account, your ads and your contract
Facebook and Instagram ads run from a Meta ad account, under a Facebook page. Ask whose both are.
When the ads run in your own ad account, as your studio's page, you can log in and see the spend and the results straight from Meta. Comments and messages land on your page. And if you part ways, the account and its history stay with you. If the ads run in the company's account or as its page, ask what you can see while you're with them and what you get when you leave.
Ask where your ad money goes, too. If Meta charges your own card, you see every dollar. If it runs through the company, ask whether they add a markup.
Ask who makes the ads, whose work is in them and whether you'll need to film anything. Ask whether you see each ad before it runs, and who owns the ads if you leave.
Then read how the contract ends. Ask how long it runs, how much notice you have to give, whether it renews on its own and what you'd still owe if you stopped early. Month to month, or a short first stretch with a clear end, lets you walk away if it isn't working.
Last, ask whether they'll run the same campaign for another artist in your area. If they will, the two of you are paying to reach the same people with the same ads. Get the answer in writing.
Proof you can check, and questions to ask before you sign
Every marketing company has results to show you. What matters is whether you can check them.
A number you can check says what was counted, over which dates and across how many studios or leads. The most useful ones count consults that showed up, not leads. A screenshot of a great week, a revenue total or a claim about what you'll earn can't be checked, because you can't see what was left out.
Revenue is hard to compare anyway. It depends on each artist's prices and how well she closes, and no marketing company controls either one. Consults that showed up are a fairer thing to compare.
Ask to talk to an artist who works with them now. If you can, find one yourself instead of only talking to the ones they pick, and ask her what she pays each month, all in.
Then ask every company the same questions on the sales call, and put the answers side by side:
- What will I pay each month, all in, with ad spend and texting included?
- What do you count as a result: leads, booked consults or consults that show up?
- Who texts my leads back, and how fast, nights and weekends included?
- What happens when a lead goes quiet, and who sends reminders?
- Whose ad account and whose Facebook page will the ads run on?
- Does my ad money go straight to Meta on my own card?
- Who makes the ads, and do I see them before they run?
- How long is the contract, how do I cancel and what would I still owe?
- Will you run the same campaign for another artist in my area?
- What happens after the first month or trial, and what does it cost to stay?
- Can you show me results with dates and counts, and can I talk to an artist you work with now?
Red flags to watch for
One of these is a reason to slow down and ask more. Two or three together is a reason to keep looking.
- A promise of a set income or a set number of bookings. Nobody controls whether a lead books or whether you close her. If a company offers a guarantee, read exactly what it pays and what you have to do to qualify.
- A long contract you can't get out of, especially one that renews on its own.
- No access to your own ad account, or no straight answer about whose account the ads run on.
- Reports that count leads, clicks or likes instead of booked consults and consults that show up.
- Results you can't check: screenshots, revenue totals and income claims with no dates or counts.
- No clear answer about who texts your leads back, or how fast.
- Fees they won't put in writing before you agree to them.
- Pressure to sign before you've read the contract, like a price that's only good today.
- Dodging the question of whether they work with another artist near you.
Where Permanent Profits fits, and who it's not for
We sell marketing too, so hold us to the same questions. Permanent Profits runs Facebook and Instagram ads and an AI texting assistant for US permanent makeup artists who do brows (microblading, powder and combo brows) or lip blush. The ads run in your own Meta ad account, as your studio's page, and the assistant texts your leads as your studio and books consults onto your own calendar.
It's $0 to start. For your first 45 days of ads, our only fee is $50 per consultation that shows up. Your ad spend goes straight to Meta on your own card, with a $500 minimum across the 45 days, and we suggest about $30 a day. Texts and calls pass through at carrier cost. If you do your part and fewer than 3 consultations show up in your first 45 days, we pay you $500. The agreement spells out what doing your part means.
At day 45 you decide. If you keep going, there's a one-time activation fee based on your results, then a small monthly amount plus a small fee for each consult that shows. We work with one artist per area, so we don't run the same campaign for two artists in one area.
We're probably not the right fit if:
- You'd rather run your own ads. A course or coaching suits that better, and it's a fair choice.
- You can't put money into ads right now.
- You want to answer every lead yourself.
- Your studio doesn't do consultations, or it's outside the US.
Questions artists ask
Which PMU marketing agency should I hire?
The one whose answers you can check, and whose way of working fits yours. Compare how each one gets paid, what happens after a lead comes in, whose ad account the ads run on, how you cancel and what proof they have with dates and counts. If you'd rather do the marketing yourself, a course or coaching may suit you better than any agency.
How can I tell if a marketing company's results are real?
Ask what was counted, over which dates and across how many studios, and whether it's leads or consults that showed up. Then talk to an artist who works with them now, ideally one you found yourself. Screenshots and income claims don't show you what was left out.
Should my ads run in my own ad account?
It's the safer setup. You can see the spend and results straight from Meta, and if you leave, the account and its history stay with you. If a company wants to run your ads in its own account, ask what you can see while you're with them and what you keep when you go.
Is it a good sign when a marketing company offers a guarantee?
It depends on what it says. A promise of a set income or a set number of bookings is a warning sign, because nobody controls whether a lead books or whether you close her. A guarantee that spells out what they'll pay or refund if results fall short, and what you have to do to qualify, is something you can hold them to. Read those rules before you count on it.
How long should a marketing contract be?
Short enough that you can leave if it isn't working. Month to month, or a first stretch with a clear end, does that. Before you sign, ask how much notice you have to give, whether it renews on its own and what you'd still owe if you stopped early.
Does it matter if they work with other artists near me?
It can. If a company runs the same campaign for two artists in one area, both are paying to reach the same people with the same ads. Ask directly, and get the answer in writing.
See if you qualify
Permanent Profits is run by Isabelle Marrone, a permanent makeup artist, and Evan Marrone.
If our way of working fits your studio, see if you qualify at offer.permanentprofits.co.