In this solo podcast episode, Kelly Alhooie walks listeners through the detailed monthly marketing budget for PelviBiz, an online pelvic health practice, and explains how each expense contributes to client acquisition and overall business sustainability. She itemizes costs for a custom Healthcare AI app ($4‑6K), a digital marketer ($4‑5K), an editor ($1.5K), branding photo shoots ($6‑7K per shoot), Meta ads ($0.8‑5K+), Google ads for brick‑and‑mortar locations (~$3K), SMS/email services, event sponsorships, and AI agents for blog generation (>$1K). Kelly emphasizes that marketing is both a monetary and time investment, describing the daily output of posts, YouTube videos, podcasts, reels, and live interactions required to stay visible across platforms. She frames paid advertising as a gamble that eventually becomes a system once ROI is proven, noting that acquiring just one client per month can cover the entire spend. Kelly contrasts online‑only practices with brick‑and‑mortar clinics, recommending lower ad budgets for the latter and stressing the importance of nurturing leads via YouTube and organic content. A central theme is the shift from traditional ads to AI‑driven visibility: clear, consistent messaging across all channels is the most valuable “marketing hack” in 2026, as AI recommendation engines will prioritize brands with unambiguous language. She advises new providers to start with time‑based organic tactics (Facebook groups, DMs, events) before allocating ad spend, and to align ad budgets with the price of their service (e.g., a $3K offer justifies up to $3K in ad spend). Kelly concludes by inviting listeners to ask further marketing questions on PelviBiz’s Instagram.
Chapters
My monthly marketing spend and exactly what the return is. So I'm going to start with PelviBiz online business here. We spend anywhere between $4K to $6K a month on our actual app, which is a marketing digital marketing app called Healthcare AI. And we put we are still in development after almost a year into it, and we put a crap ton of money into it. Um, and that's just because we're trying to help providers post more and be more consistent with their branding and all the things. Um, the next thing we spend money on is having a digital, uh, marketer. So we have a digital marketer. We pay anywhere between, again, $4K to $5K for that a month. Um, we also have an editor. We pay about $1,500 for that. Um, we also do shoots, like branding shoots. Branding shoots can cost like $6,000 to $7,000. I mean, it can cost for like one day. Um, so that's also a monthly expense, or can be a monthly expense. Um, what else marketing-wise? Um, time. I mean, that's just like the money-wise, but then like time. We post 3 to 6 times a day on all platforms. We do one long-term, long-form YouTube video a day. We do a podcast a week. We do trial reels. I mean, we do it all because we understand if you guys want to be in the online space, you have to be on all platforms everywhere. Oh, and I forgot ads. We also run Meta ads, and that could be anywhere between $800 to $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, just depending on what we're trying to do. It could even be higher than that depending on if we have like a campaign or a webinar or something coming up. So it all varies. But there is— I don't think people understand that there is a lot of, uh, output that you have to— it's like gambling, that you have to like output to then really kind of hope— not hope, because you eventually come down to systems, but sometimes it is hope. Like, when you first run ads, it's hoping. Like, there's no, there's no way around that. It's gambling. Like, you were gambling with your money, uh, because you don't know what you're doing, and it's pure gamble. Um, but that is like, in general, the output. Oh, you pay for text messages and, uh, what do you call it, email. So like We also pay for that, right? Even though we have our own SaaS company, but everyone, we all pay for that because we don't control that. The carriers do. So we pay for that. What else? Marketing and brand-wise, maybe we go to an event and we're a sponsor at an event. So maybe we also pay for for that as well. So maybe be like a vendor at an event. Like CSM is like eight thousand dollars to have a booth. I mean, it's something insane. Uh, which is just kind of crazy. But anyways, that's beside the point. Uh, what else from a marketing perspective? Uh, then I just believe it's time. Like, it's just your time recording, talking to the camera, understanding how to put out content. Um, just being comfortable in front of a camera, like talking, acting like that's a person. It's still interesting when you're like, wow, that lens is a person. Uh, so I think that's always like an awkward thing, but, uh, yeah, you end up getting used to it, I guess, after a while. But that's ultimately, if you are online like Pelvic Biz is, then you have to be in all places, all the ways, and you have to output a fair amount of money to be able to be shown, especially in this land of AI and all the things. Um, you know, even with ChatGPT ads now, All of that, and then building these agents. These agents do cost money. For instance, we built an agent that did blogs, and it cost us over $1,000 to write blog posts. So that was a big oopsie. So we've learned a lot. Let's just say that in 2026, we have learned a lot because we try to be on 2025 on the forefront of AI, and we're continuing to keep pushing forward. But there's just been a lot of hiccups. And a lot of change that we've had to learn and pivot and look at, and developers have had to, you know, look at. And because there's like a new tool every single day that you can use, and so that costs a lot of money. For instance, like our AI app, like we had to redo the system like 7 different times because there was just upgrades happening and like new ways to do it and better versions. And like we had to rewire the whole system. So it had less mishaps happening and it had more stability. And in that process, we've just learned so much. Like, we've learned so much, and it's been very, very costly for us. Um, but we're going to continue to push forward because we believe in it. So anyways, that is like online. That is stuff that you would have to spend online. And that's not even to mention the coaches that we specifically hire that are, you know, $10,000, $11,000 a month to just give us you know, the most updated information besides what we're all already studying to then say, hey, go out and do it this way because like this is the thing and this is the pathway that is coming forward and all the things. So yeah, I mean, we spend— we probably spend— add that all up, I don't know, I can't do math, but I mean, I can do math, but I don't— I mean, everything I just said, I don't know, maybe about around $15,000 to $20,000 in marketing. And I don't think people understand what it takes to like be seen on the internet, and it takes that, like it really does. Um, and that's a month, and then the return is, you know, we, um, get one person in our program, well, that's, you know, um, could pay for that. So, you know, we just need one person a month to help cover those expenses. So As long as that's that is there, then great. We can keep staying in business. And so, if you guys are an online business and you're thinking about well, how do I do online? You've got to make sure that the output that you are doing also gives you the return that you're looking for. So, I'm going to give you an example. If I was just strictly online provider. Then I need to make sure that if my service was worth, let's just say, $3K, if I had a $3K offer, then the most I'm going to spend a month on ads is probably around $3K to just see if I can get a return. Okay, that's where I would like start is like, okay, my offer's $3,000 and I would start at $3K for ad spend. Now, if you're just starting out, I wouldn't spend on ad spend. I would be in the Facebook groups. And that is marketing, but it's your time. It's not money, it's your time. And so you either give time or money. Ideally, you want to give money and get your time back. You want both. But at first, you may have to do more of your time. And so maybe you're in the Facebook groups, maybe you're in the DMs. Again, that's a time thing, it's not a money thing. Maybe you are hosting online events. Maybe you are in directories. Maybe you are doing collaboration. Sorry, hold on. Maybe you are doing IG lives. Like all these things, maybe you're doing email campaigns. All these things take time, and all that is good. Maybe you're making funnels. All that's great, but eventually you will start paying to get eyeballs instead of you. Feeling because your time will start to go bye-bye and you'll have to start paying. And that's what you do. You can put money towards ads, um, to get it. You could also, besides ads— because I do believe ads are fading out because I believe the pool now in ads, like everyone's in ads— I do believe the traffic, it will be shifting over to how to be seen on AI if it hasn't already. It's going that direction. And I believe the race will be AI of how to be seen, not how to do the best ads. I think ads will always be a thing, but I think it will be less of a focus. And I think more focus will be on how to be seen through AI. And that's where I see it going. So we're there. PelviBiz is on the forefront of that. Like we really are, you know, really putting all the tools in place to make sure that you can be seen through AI and AI recommends you. Because people are not going to search any links when they Google you, okay? They're not going to go down there. They are only specifically going to search what they want. And then AI, if you have very clear language and very clear, like, what you do versus your competitor, they're going to say, okay, great, I'm going to pull this information, and you get part of the spotlight. But if your information is not clear, they will not bring you as part of the spotlight, and they will be like, it's too confusing, you're not reliable, so I'm not going to look stupid and recommend you. And so this is why it's really important for brands to understand their messaging and their wording. And like, I can't tell you enough, in 2026, like, that's the best marketing hack is messaging, making sure it's so, so clear on all platforms. Um, that's the number one thing over knowing AI or knowing ads or knowing how to do workshops. Like, that is the number one thing is messaging. And once you have that, then You're good. So, you know, going back to, you know, monthly marketing expenses and the return, you got to make sure that there's a return when it comes to a brick-and-mortar practice. You know, we spent around $3,000 a month in Google, and you know, there is a cap eventually that you get to because there's only a certain amount of people. Per month that are searching for us. It was pelvic floor dysfunction. So there's only a certain, uh, population that's hot enough for that. And so once you've kind of tapped out of that, you can put more money to Google, but then it's a point of no return. You're spending a crap ton on one person to come in the door. Also, in Meta, um, it's colder, so you're going to get colder people coming in. They're not going to convert right away. So how then are you going to nurture that process? And it doesn't mean that you're going to get a lead right now. It doesn't— it doesn't— you Even though the internet says that, that's not true. It takes time to warm them up. And so they're not immediately going to come from Facebook. They're not trying to even search you out, which is why they're just scrolling, doom scrolling on Facebook, and then happen to see you. Oh yeah, I think I have that problem. Okay, let me see more about what it's about. But they're not 100% with urgency ready to take action. So like, instead of that, someone compared to on YouTube is searching for you. Great. If you have a brick-and-mortar practice Put your marketing on YouTube because they're going to consume you more. They're going to know you. They're going to— you're warming them up compared to just seeing an ad on Facebook. They're going to take less action compared to if they watch you on YouTube. So like, all y'all should be cross-posting to YouTube, especially if brick and mortars— well, and even online, you should be on YouTube, uh, because people go to get their problems solved there still to this day. That is classically known, and it also helps with being seen in AI. Um, and so for marketing dollars, I would say for a brick-and-mortar probably is about $3,000 in general. And maybe you run ads, maybe you, you know, have to print flyers every now and then, but there's not— maybe you have a marketer, you could pay a marketer. That's probably going to cost you around $80,000 if you have just a marketer on staff. Um, or maybe you're the marketer, right? But ultimately, for brick and mortar, you're not going to be spending too much, uh, in marketing dollars, um, because you do get to a point where there's a cap and there's other ways to distribute how you want to market. Um, and I think when AI— I mean, AI is here. I think it's more heavily going to be focused on paying people to do blog posts for you, or having your AI do the blog post, having it be known on different You being known on different platforms, you becoming more of authority. I think that will just be more prevalent instead of just focusing on ads. And so that's what I feel that it's going to. And so here we go. You know, make sure that whatever marketing that you put out, you get in a return. That's key. If you guys have any more marketing questions, guys, happy to answer them at PelviBiz. Just add us on Instagram, P-E-L-V-I-B-I-Z, @PelviBiz. Happy to answer. Bye, guys.
