How a St. Louis-area functional medicine practice started growing beyond its founding doctor.
Every patient at this functional medicine practice outside St. Louis wanted to see the founder. He was preparing to step back, and the practice had hired new providers and staff to carry on his work, but demand still funneled to one person. We built a new brand, a new website, SEO, and a Meta Ads program centered on the practice's cash-pay services and its growing team, introducing new patients to the new providers without pushing anyone away from the doctor they trusted. After an offer change in August 2026, monthly leads nearly doubled and cost per lead fell from $36 to $19.
$36 → $19
Meta Cost Per Lead
May–Jul vs. August 2026
~43 → 82
Leads / Month
Same ~$1,500 budget
262
Leads in 5 Months
May – Sep 2026
25
Service Pages
New website + SEO
Snapshot
Client snapshot.
- Practice type
- Functional and integrative medicine practice in the St. Louis suburbs
- Situation
- Founding physician preparing to retire; new providers and staff hired
- Services
- Hormone therapy, medical weight loss, peptides, IV and hyperbaric therapy, men's and women's wellness, advanced testing
- Business model
- Cash-pay services and longer-term wellness programs
- Channels
- Meta Ads, SEO, new website
- Engagement
- New brand + website rebuild + SEO + Meta Ads
The Challenge
A practice built around one doctor, and that doctor wanted to step back.
The practice's founder had spent years building a loyal following. That loyalty was the practice's greatest asset and, as he prepared to retire, its biggest risk. Patients wanted to see him specifically, even though the practice had hired new providers and staff to carry his approach forward.
The brand, the website, and the marketing all reinforced the same message: this is his practice. New patients had no reason to book with anyone else, and the new providers had no way to build relationships of their own.
The practice needed to grow its cash-pay patient base and fill the new providers' schedules, without alienating the patients who came for the founder or making him feel pushed aside.
From the Field
“You can't force a patient away from the doctor they trust. What you can do is give new patients a reason to walk in the door that isn't about any one person, and let the team earn the relationship from there. The brand had to become bigger than the founder while still honoring everything he built.”
Mike Funkhouser
Founder, Practice Growth Co
The Strategy
Build the brand around the practice, and let the team build the relationships.
A new brand for the whole practice
We rebuilt the brand so it represents the practice's approach and team, not a single physician, while still presenting the founder as the expert whose philosophy guides the care.
A rebuilt website with SEO
A new website with dedicated pages for 25 services and bios for each provider, optimized for search so new patients across the St. Louis area find the practice through the services they're looking for, not the founder's name.
Ads that lead with services, not a person
Meta campaigns promote the practice's cash-pay services, so new patients come in for a specific need and meet the new providers naturally.
Get them in once, then build a program
Each ad offer is a first step. Once a patient is in, the practice's team builds a longer-term wellness program around their goals, which is where the lasting value is.
Engagement Timeline
Dec 2025
Engagement begins: brand, website, SEO
Apr 2026
Meta Ads launch
May–Jul 2026
Steady ~43 leads a month at ~$36
Aug 2026
New offer: 82 leads at $19
Results · Meta Ads
Nearly twice the leads for about half the cost.
82
Leads in August 2026
vs. ~43 per month before
$19
Cost Per Lead
Down from ~$36
262
Leads in 5 Months
$7,259 total spend
$20
CPL Since Offer Change
Aug – Sep 2026
Monthly Meta Ads leads · Sep* = through September 23
What Carries Over
Lessons for practices planning a founder transition.
Start the transition in the marketing before it happens in the practice
A brand built around one doctor makes a transition harder every year. Shifting the brand toward the practice and its team gives new providers time to build their own following.
Lead with the service, and the relationship follows
Patients who come in for a specific service meet the team naturally. That's a gentler path to new providers than asking patients to switch doctors.
The offer is often the biggest lever
Same budget, same audience, different offer: leads nearly doubled in a month. When results plateau, test the offer before anything else.
If your practice depends on one provider
Let's build a brand bigger than one person.
If every patient asks for the same doctor, your growth has a ceiling. Book a strategy call and we'll show you how we'd position your practice and your team for what comes next.
Continue exploring
Related work and reading.
Services
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Specialties
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