Sisu Clinic: Aesthetic Clinic Marketing Across 36 Clinics in Three Countries

Sisu Clinic is a doctor-led aesthetic medicine brand, founded in 2018 by Dr James Cotter, Dr Brian Cotter and tech entrepreneur Pat Phelan. It offers treatments like anti-wrinkle injections, dermal fillers, skin treatments and permanent fat reduction, delivered by medical professionals and booked through Sisu’s own app.

Vroom worked with Sisu on its aesthetic clinic marketing as the brand grew to 36 clinics across Ireland, the UK and the US. Our job was simple to say and hard to do: keep every clinic’s diary full, in one of the most restricted advertising categories there is.

At a glance

• Client: Sisu Clinic, doctor-led aesthetic medicine clinics
• Markets: Ireland, the UK and the US
• Scale: 36 clinics (28 in Ireland, 4 in the UK and 4 in the US)
• Services: Google Ads (search, YouTube and display), Meta ads, and booking tracking and measurement
• Goal: booked appointments at every clinic, every week

Why aesthetics is one of the hardest categories to advertise

In Ireland, botulinum toxin is a prescription-only medicine, and Irish law prohibits advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. In other words, a clinic can’t run an ad for “Botox”. The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland has upheld complaints against clinics for using the word, and even for nicknames like “Bro-tox”. The HPRA, the medicines regulator, says it has instructed 135 clinics to remove unlawful online advertising since 2022.

The platforms add their own rules on top. Meta requires ads for cosmetic procedures to target people aged 18 or over, and doesn’t allow side-by-side before-and-after images for wrinkle treatments. Google restricts how many health and medical treatments can be advertised. And the UK and the US each have rules of their own.

Get it wrong and ads are rejected, accounts get flagged, or a clinic ends up named in an adjudication. Get it right and you’re competing against clinics that are still guessing.

How we built the booking engine

The goal was never clicks or followers. It was booked appointments, clinic by clinic. Here’s how the pieces fitted together.

Compliant messaging from day one. Treatments were described in language that works within the rules, such as “anti-wrinkle injections” and “consultations”, and every ad and landing page was checked against Irish rules and each platform’s policies before it went live.

Search where intent is highest. Google Search captured people actively looking for treatments near a clinic, with location targeting for each clinic. Brand campaigns protected the Sisu name from competitors bidding on it.

Social and video to build demand. Paid social and YouTube built awareness for new clinics and treatments, with 18+ targeting and creative that showed real people and the clinic experience rather than before-and-after shots.

First-party data. With platform targeting limited for health and beauty, Sisu’s own booking data became its most valuable asset. Used with consent, it helped us reach the right people again and showed the platforms what a real booking looks like.

Measuring bookings, not clicks. We worked with Sisu’s team to improve tracking and attribution, so campaigns were judged and optimised on confirmed appointments.

Full diaries, plus 10%. Budgets were managed clinic by clinic, aiming for a full diary with a 10% overbooking buffer to absorb cancellations and no-shows.

One team, three countries. A cross-functional team ran separate campaigns for each market, respecting local rules and audiences, while sharing what worked across all of them.

Results

As Sisu grew to 36 clinics across Ireland, the UK and the US, Google and paid social became core channels for filling them. Each location was run to be fully booked, with a 10% buffer for cancellations, and the campaigns scaled into new markets without losing control of costs.

A fantastic Irish agency, and a key partner for any business who is serious about digital growth. Collaborative ways of working, highly skilled account teams, excellent communication and consistent, robust data reporting are some of the benefits reaped when working with Vroom.

A special mention to Bronagh, Ben and Luke – truly experts in their fields!.

Amy French – Marketing Manager, Sisu Clinics

What aesthetics clinics can learn from Sisu

1. Compliance is a growth strategy. A flagged account or a rejected campaign can cost weeks of bookings. Getting the language, targeting and creative right first is what lets you scale.

2. Measure bookings, not clicks. Cheap clicks mean nothing if the diary is empty. Track confirmed appointments and optimise to them.

3. Own your data. Your patient and booking data is worth more than any platform’s targeting. Collect it properly, with consent.

4. Protect your name in search. Competitors will bid on your brand. A small brand campaign keeps people who are looking for you from landing somewhere else.

5. Run every location as its own business. Each clinic has its own catchment, competition and capacity. Budget and report on each one.

6. Plan for cancellations. Aesthetics appointments get moved and missed. Build a buffer into your targets.

Beyond ads: SEO, PR and AI search for aesthetics clinics

Paid media fills this month’s diary. Reputation fills next year’s. People research aesthetic treatments carefully: they read reviews, check practitioners’ credentials, and increasingly ask Google’s AI Overviews or ChatGPT which clinics they can trust.

The clinics that show up in those answers usually have three things: helpful content written or reviewed by their practitioners, coverage in trusted media, and consistent facts about who they are across the web. That’s where SEO, digital PR and answer engine optimisation (AEO) come in, and why we plan them alongside paid media rather than separately.

Run an aesthetics clinic or beauty brand?

We know the rules, the platforms and what it takes to fill a diary. Talk to our team about search, social, SEO and PR for your clinic.