Pay-Per-Show Marketing for Permanent Makeup Artists
Permanent Profits is pay-per-show marketing for US permanent makeup artists: $0 to start, and for your first 45 days our only fee is $50 per consultation that shows up. You still pay your own ad spend to Meta (a $500 minimum over the 45 days) and texts at cost, and at day 45 you decide whether to continue.
By Evan Marrone, cofounder, builds the system · Updated
How pay per show works
A lot of marketing asks you to pay first and hope it works. Pay per show ties the fee to the thing you actually want: a person sitting down with you for a consultation.
Here's how it runs with us. We set up and run your Facebook and Instagram ads. Our AI texting assistant texts each new lead within about a minute, day or night, answers her questions in your studio's voice and books consultations onto your own calendar. It follows up with people who go quiet and sends reminders.
For your first 45 days of ads, our only fee is $50 per consultation that actually shows up. A consult that doesn't show costs you no fee. Put simply, for those 45 days, we only get paid when a consult walks in.
What counts as a show
A show is a booked consultation where the person actually comes in.
The fee is for the consult, not the sale. If she comes in and decides to wait on her brows, it still counts as a show. Closing happens in your studio, and that part is yours.
If she doesn't come, there's no fee for that consult. Every consult is booked onto your own calendar, and you can read the whole conversation that led to it in the app.
What you still pay
It's $0 to start, and our fee is $50 per showed consult for the first 45 days. That isn't everything you'll spend, though, and we want that to be clear up front. Here's the rest:
- Ad spend. It goes straight to Meta on your own card, not through us. There's a $500 minimum across the 45 days, and we suggest about $30 a day.
- Texts and calls. They pass through at cost, a few cents each.
- Your time. The assistant books the consults, and you do them.
Why we charge per show, not per lead
A lead is someone who tapped your ad and typed in her number. That's a start, not a client.
If we charged per lead, we'd get paid whether or not anyone booked. Charging per show means our fee depends on the same thing your income does: people coming in for a consult.
It also keeps us on the boring work that gets people in the door, like texting back fast and following up. In the studios we work with, 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). And 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).
What happens at day 45
At day 45, you decide. By then you have 45 days of your own numbers to look at, not a sales pitch.
If you continue, there's a one-time activation fee based on your results. It's performance-based: it's figured from the consults that showed up in your first 45 days, at your own prices, so it stays a small share of what they brought you. That fee only applies if you continue.
After that, it's a small monthly amount plus a small fee for each consult that shows.
What to ask any pay-per-show company
Pay per show can mean different things at different companies. Before you sign with anyone, us included, get clear answers to these:
- Is the fee per booked consult, or per consult that actually shows up?
- What do I pay when someone doesn't show?
- Is there a setup fee?
- Is ad spend included, or does it go straight to Meta on my card?
- What do texting and calls cost?
- What happens when the first stretch ends, and what does staying cost?
How pay per show compares
A monthly retainer charges the same amount every month, whether or not anyone books. Pay per lead charges for each name that comes in. A course or coaching teaches you to do it yourself, so the work and the risk stay with you.
Pay per show ties the company's fee to consults that actually walk in. You still carry the ad spend. But for your first 45 days with us, you don't pay our fee on leads that never show.
Questions artists ask
If she comes to her consult but doesn't book, do I still pay the $50?
Yes. The fee is for a consultation that shows up, not for the sale. Closing happens in your studio, and that part is yours.
What if a consult doesn't show?
Then there's no fee for that consult. The assistant sends reminders and follows up with people who go quiet.
Do I pay anything up front?
It's $0 to start. You do need your own card on Meta for ad spend, with a $500 minimum across your first 45 days.
Is ad spend included in the $50?
No. Ad spend goes straight to Meta on your own card, and we suggest about $30 a day. The $50 is our fee. Texts and calls pass through at cost, a few cents each.
What does it cost to keep going after day 45?
A one-time activation fee based on your results, then a small monthly amount plus a small fee for each consult that shows. You get your exact numbers before day 45, and nothing renews on its own.
See if you qualify
Permanent Profits is run by Isabelle Marrone, a permanent makeup artist at Awaken Permanent Cosmetics in Phoenixville, PA, and Evan Marrone. We work with one artist per area, so we don't run the same campaign for two artists in one area.
If you're a US permanent makeup artist doing brows or lip blush and this way of paying makes sense to you, see if you qualify at offer.permanentprofits.co.