How ABA Clinics Can Run Google and Facebook Ads Without an In-House Marketer
Running Google and Facebook ads for an ABA clinic takes steady weekly work: setup, fresh creative, budget checks, reviewing every lead and fast follow-up. Without an in-house marketer, you can run them yourself, use a freelancer, hire later, or use an agency or managed system. Whichever you choose, keep the ads in your clinic's own accounts and judge them by tours and intakes, not clicks.
What does running ads actually take each week?
Most ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) clinic owners underestimate the ongoing part. Launching a campaign is a few days of work. Keeping it producing tours is a weekly job that never fully goes away.
| Work | When | What it involves |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Once, then when openings change | Ad accounts, tracking, location settings, a matching landing page, a form, and the path to a person |
| Creative | Every few weeks | New videos, images and copy as messages tire or openings change |
| Budget and delivery | Several times a week | Checking spend, pausing what isn't working, catching errors early |
| Search terms and comments (Google, Meta) | Weekly | Excluding job seekers and irrelevant searches, answering or hiding ad comments |
| Checking leads | Daily | Reading each inquiry, spotting wrong-fit patterns, fixing the cause |
| Follow-up | Same day, every day | Calling or texting families, booking tours, handling replies |
| Reporting | Monthly | Spend against qualified leads, tours and completed intakes |
The last three rows are where clinics without a marketer usually struggle. The ads keep spending whether or not anyone calls the families back. For channel-specific setup, the Google Ads guide and the Facebook ads guide go further.
Which option fits your clinic?
Each option below can work. The deciding questions are who has weekly time, who owns follow-up, and how much you want to manage.
| Option | Works well when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Owner or office manager runs them | One location, one campaign, and a person with protected weekly hours | Ad work loses to clinical and payroll work in busy weeks; learning curve on both platforms |
| Freelancer | You need hands on the ad accounts and can manage follow-up in-house | Many cover ads only; check who books tours and who sees intake outcomes |
| In-house marketing hire | Several locations or steady growth plans that justify a full role | One person rarely covers creative, both platforms and follow-up; coverage gaps during leave or turnover |
| Agency or managed system | You want ads, automation and follow-up run together by one team | Account ownership, contract length, what the fee covers, and whether reports go past leads |
Owner DIY is a fair choice early on, especially to learn what your families respond to. The cost is time, and the risk is that follow-up slips. A freelancer can be a good middle step if your front desk can reliably call new leads the same day. An in-house hire makes most sense when there's enough work across locations to keep one person busy and learning. An agency makes sense when you'd rather buy the whole path than manage the parts. The guide to choosing an ABA marketing agency lists the questions to ask.
What should you require from whoever runs your ads?
These requirements hold for every option, including you. Put them in writing before anyone starts.
- Ads run in your clinic's own ad accounts. Your business owns the Meta and Google accounts and gives the marketer access. If they leave, the history, audiences and campaigns stay with you.
- Leads live in a record you own. Every inquiry goes into your CRM or lead record, not a spreadsheet in someone else's drive.
- Ad spend is billed to your card by the platform. Keep the management fee and the ad spend as separate lines so you always see actual spend. The marketing costs guide shows how to compare them.
- Reporting goes to tours and intakes. Clicks and cost per lead are early signals. The report that matters shows qualified leads, booked tours, attended tours and completed intakes.
- Someone named owns follow-up. Whether it's your front desk or the marketer's team, one person is responsible for each new inquiry the day it arrives.
- Honest platform limits. Whoever runs your ads should tell you plainly that the ad platforms don't target by insurance plan or diagnosis, and explain how the form and follow-up handle qualification instead.
- A clear exit. Month-to-month terms or a written notice period, and a list of what you keep if you stop.
How do you check their work without becoming a marketer?
Set a 30-minute review once a month with five numbers: ad spend, qualified leads, attended tours, completed intakes and total cost (ad spend plus fees). Divide total cost by completed intakes to get cost per intake.
For example, with hypothetical round numbers: if total cost for a period was $6,000 and the clinic completed 4 intakes from leads in that period, cost per intake is $1,500. Compare that with what a new client is worth to your clinic, not with someone else's cost per lead. Give recent leads time to reach tours and intakes before judging a month.
Then ask three questions. What changed in the ads this month and why? Which stage lost the most families? What will you change next? A good marketer, freelancer or agency answers all three without hedging.
Should you start with Google or Facebook?
That depends on whether families are already searching for the service you have open and what creative you can produce. The Google Ads versus Facebook ads comparison walks through the decision. Without a marketer, starting with one channel and doing it well usually beats running both thinly.
How does Relay run ads for clinics without a marketer?
The Relay Co is a growth marketing company for ABA clinics only. It builds a client growth system directly inside your clinic's business: paid ads on Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google, automation and the Relay team, working to find families looking for ABA therapy, qualify them by location, age, requested service and the insurance plans you accept, handle follow-up and book clinic tours. It's a mix of automation and real Relay team members.
Your team gives the tour, verifies individual benefits and clinical eligibility, and completes intake. Relay never makes clinical or coverage decisions. Ads run from your own ad accounts, and you own the system end to end, including every lead. Relay works month to month with no long-term contract. The management fee is quoted on your clinic's size and needs and agreed before starting; ad spend is separate and paid directly to the platforms from your account. The first lead arrives within 72 hours of ads going live, and Relay works with one ABA clinic per city.
For established ABA clinics, the offer is 20 new intakes in 90 days, or we work for free.
Frequently asked questions
How much should my clinic spend on ads?
Set ad spend from your open capacity and what a new client is worth to your clinic, then adjust once you know your cost per intake. Agree on a daily limit and who can change it before anything launches.
Can my office manager run our ads?
Yes, if they have protected weekly hours and someone else covers same-day follow-up. Setup is rarely where this breaks. Trouble usually starts in a busy intake week when nobody checks the leads.
Who should own the ad accounts?
Your clinic. Create the accounts under your business, pay the platforms from your own card, and give access to whoever manages them. That way changing marketers doesn't mean starting over.
What if I already work with an agency?
Ask for the seven requirements above, starting with account ownership and reporting to completed intakes. If you can't see those, raise it before your next renewal.
Put the plan to work.
Relay turns your service priorities into videos, social content, paid campaigns, email, and search pages. For clinic engagements, we also call leads, check practical fit and book the agreed visits. Your team handles clinical decisions, benefits and intake.