Four Ways to Pay for Permanent Makeup (PMU) Marketing
You can pay for permanent makeup marketing four main ways: a monthly retainer, pay per lead, pay per show, or a do-it-yourself course or coaching. The big difference is who carries the risk if nobody books: with a retainer, pay per lead or a course it's on you, and with pay per show it's shared.
By Evan Marrone, cofounder, builds the system · Updated
The four models at a glance
Most offers you'll see fit one of these, or mix two of them. Here's the short version of how each one works:
- Monthly retainer: a set fee every month for someone to run your marketing.
- Pay per lead: a fee for each person who fills out your form.
- Pay per show: a fee for each consultation that actually shows up.
- Do-it-yourself course or coaching: you pay to learn, then run the ads and answer the leads yourself.
Monthly retainer
How it works: you pay a set amount each month for someone to run your ads. Ad spend is often on top, so ask.
What it costs you: the same fee every month, whether you get a lot of consults or none.
Who carries the risk: you. If the leads don't book, you've still paid for the month.
When it can make sense: you already answer leads fast and book well, and you just want someone to handle the ads.
Pay per lead
How it works: you pay for each lead, meaning each person who fills out your form.
What it costs you: more leads means a bigger bill, whether or not those people book.
Who carries the risk: mostly you. The company gets paid for the name and number. Turning that into a consult is on you.
Ask what counts as a lead. Do you pay for wrong numbers, repeats or people outside your area?
When it can make sense: you or someone on your team answers every lead fast, day and night, and follows up.
Pay per show
How it works: the company's fee is tied to consultations that actually show up in your studio.
What it costs you: a fee for each consult that shows, plus your ad spend, which you pay whether or not anyone shows.
Who carries the risk: it's shared. You carry the ad spend. The company carries the work of getting leads to show up, because that's how it gets paid.
Ask what counts as a show, what you pay besides the per-show fee, and what happens when the first stretch ends.
When it can make sense: you want to pay for people in your studio, not for clicks or names.
Do-it-yourself course or coaching
How it works: you pay for training, then run your own ads and answer your own leads.
What it costs you: the cash cost can be lower, but the time is all yours. That means setting up ads, answering leads at night and following up.
Who carries the risk: you, all of it. If the ads don't work, the course still cost what it cost.
When it can make sense: you like the marketing side, you have the time, and you want full control.
How to compare them fairly
Compare what you pay per consult that actually shows up, with ad spend counted. A cheap lead that never books isn't cheap.
Whatever model you're looking at, ask about these:
- Setup fees.
- Ad spend: is it included, or paid straight to Meta on your own card?
- Texting and call costs.
- What happens after the first month or trial, and what it costs to stay.
- Whether they'll run the same ads for another artist near you.
Who carries the risk, side by side
Here's the risk in one place:
- Monthly retainer: you.
- Pay per lead: mostly you, since booking is on you.
- Pay per show: shared. You pay the ad spend, and the company only earns its fee when consults show.
- Course or coaching: all you.
Where Permanent Profits fits, honestly
For your first 45 days, we're pay per show. It's $0 to start, and our only fee is $50 per consultation that actually shows up. A consult that doesn't show costs you no fee.
You still carry the ad spend. It 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 cost, a few cents each.
After day 45, we're not pure pay per show anymore, and we'd rather you hear that from us now. If you continue, 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. So it becomes a monthly fee plus a per-show fee.
We're also not the right fit if you want to run everything yourself. A course or coaching is made for that. And we work with one artist per area, so we don't run the same campaign for two artists in one area.
Questions artists ask
Which way of paying for PMU marketing is cheapest?
It depends on what you count. Compare what you pay per consult that actually shows up, with ad spend included. A low monthly fee or a cheap lead can still cost a lot if nobody books.
Is pay per show free if nobody shows?
Not quite. With us, our fee is $0 if no consult shows. But your ad spend still goes to Meta, and texts and calls pass through at cost.
What's the catch with pay per show?
You still pay for the ads, and the fee counts a consult that shows even if she doesn't book that day. With us, staying past day 45 has a one-time activation fee based on your results, then a small monthly amount plus a small fee for each consult that shows.
Should I take a course or hire someone?
If you have the time and like the marketing side, a course can work. If you'd rather spend your time on clients and want leads answered day and night without you, done-for-you makes more sense.
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.
If paying for consults that show makes more sense to you than paying for months or for names, see if you qualify at offer.permanentprofits.co.