Ad Spend Tracker: A One-Page Marketing Budget Sheet for Practices
By Blake Hickey, founder of Double Jaw Marketing. For practice owners and office managers. Updated October 24, 2026.
Knowing what you spent on ads last month is a start. Knowing what one booked consult cost you, by source, is what lets you decide where the next dollar goes.
This is the one page I'd want on the desk of any practice I work with: where the money goes, the math on one line each, how to set a budget from the goal backward, and what to check every month. It's part of the bottom jaw of the Double Jaw Method: once a campaign is live, it gets measured and tuned.
I'm not an accountant or a financial advisor. This is how I set up marketing budgets and reports in my own work since 2006, shared to help you. Ask your accountant about anything tax related.
Two numbers, kept apart
Every marketing report should show these two numbers on their own lines. When they're blended together, you can't tell what the ads cost and what the help cost.
The math, one line each
- Cost per lead = ad spend ÷ new inquiries (calls, forms and texts)
- Cost per booked consult = ad spend ÷ consults booked from those inquiries
- Cost per started case = ad spend ÷ patients who started treatment
- Booking rate = consults booked ÷ new inquiries
- Start rate = patients who started ÷ consults that showed
Cost per lead is the number most reports lead with. Cost per booked consult and cost per started case are the ones that tell you whether the money worked.
Set the budget from the goal backward
Start with how many new starts you want in a month, then work back to the ad spend. Use your own rates from the last few months. If you don't track them yet, that's the first fix.
These numbers are made up to show the math. They're not a benchmark, a client result or a typical result.
- Goal: 10 new starts a month. Start rate: 50%. So you need 20 consults that show.
- Booking rate: 40%. So you need 50 new inquiries.
- Cost per lead: $60. So the monthly ad spend is about $3,000.
What to expect in the first months
In my experience, new campaigns often cost more per lead at the start, before there's enough data. As the landing page on your website and the targeting get tuned, costs often come down. Sometimes they stay higher. That's why I don't judge a campaign by published industry averages, and you shouldn't either. Judge it by your own cost per booked consult, month over month.
The monthly check
- Ad spend and management fee are on separate lines
- Every new inquiry has a source: Google search, Google Maps, AI search, ads or a referring office
- Cost per booked consult is shown by source, not just overall
- Calls that went unanswered are counted, not left out
- Next month's budget moves toward the sources that booked the right cases
The ad spend overview sheet
One page for the monthly meeting: spend and results by source, the fee on its own line, the goal-backward math and the monthly check. Put your logo in the box and print it.
Print it, or choose Save as PDF in the print window. Only the sheet prints, on US Letter paper.
Month: [Month, year]
Prepared by: [Name]
Ad spend overview
Where the money went this month, and what each booked consult cost.
This month, by source
| Source | Ad spend | New inquiries | Booked consults | Cost per booked consult | Started cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google search | |||||
| Google Maps | |||||
| Facebook and Instagram | |||||
| AI search and SEO | |||||
| Referring offices | |||||
| Total |
Kept apart
Goal backward
The monthly check
- Spend and fee on separate lines
- Every inquiry has a source
- Cost per booked consult by source
- Unanswered calls counted
- Budget moves toward what books
Next month
From Double Jaw Marketing, doublejawmarketing.com. General information, not financial or tax advice. Example numbers in the guide are made up to show the math. Double Jaw Method is a trademark of Hickey Media LLC.
In a free 15-minute Method Review, Blake walks your real numbers through both jaws of the Double Jaw Method. You keep the written Method Plan either way. Book a Method Review
