The plan that decides what every dollar of media is for.
Before a campaign is built, someone has to decide which patients are worth acquiring, what offer wins them, which channels can carry the volume and what payback the business can afford. Growth Strategy is that work, kept current as the numbers move.
- LTV:CACEfficiency ratio
The single number that decides how hard the business can push spend.
- PAYBACKCAC payback period
Sets the budget ceiling per channel and per cohort.
- CMContribution margin
Proves a patient is profitable after clinical, pharmacy and fulfilment costs.
- FCSTForecast accuracy
Whether the plan can be trusted to allocate next quarter's budget.
How Growth Strategy works.
Four working rules that shape every decision the capability makes, from the first audit to the weekly cadence.
- 01
Start from the unit economics
We rebuild CAC, LTV, payback and contribution margin from your own data before anyone touches a budget. The model shows which patients the business can afford to acquire and at what price, and that number sets the ceiling for everything downstream.
- 02
Design the offer before the ad
Price, plan structure, what is included, medication options and the first-month promise decide conversion more than any creative does. Offer architecture is designed and tested as deliberately as a landing page.
- 03
Choose channels by payback
Each channel is judged on the cost and quality of the patients it produces and how quickly they pay back. The mix is set against that, then rebalanced as cohorts mature and the picture changes.
- 04
Keep one roadmap the whole engine runs on
A single testing roadmap ranks creative, conversion and media experiments by their expected effect on patient economics. Every team works from it, so learning compounds instead of scattering across channels.
What is included.
The full scope of the capability. Every engagement starts with the audit, then the scope is set to the parts of your funnel where the economics are decided.
- 01
Diagnose
- Market and competitor intelligence by category
- Funnel and unit-economics rebuild from source data
- Cohort analysis of retention, refills and churn
- Compliance and platform exposure review
- 02
Design
- Offer architecture and pricing structure
- Channel strategy and budget allocation
- Forecast and scenario model
- Measurement plan tracked to the prescription
- 03
Decide
- Quarterly growth plan and targets
- Weekly testing roadmap across creative, conversion and media
- Monthly economics review with your leadership team
- Reallocation rules for when payback moves
How the work runs.
A build phase with a fixed end, then a standing cadence. The rhythm is what makes the learning compound.
- 01Weeks 1–2
Audit
Data access, funnel rebuild, cohort analysis and a written point of view on where the growth is.
- 02Weeks 3–4
Plan
Offer, channel mix, forecast and the first testing roadmap agreed with your team.
- 03Monthly
Review
Cohorts, payback and forecast accuracy checked against actuals, and the plan adjusted.
- 04Quarterly
Reforecast
Targets, budget and offer architecture reset for the next quarter based on what compounded.
One connected operating system.
Growth Strategy does not run on its own. This is what it hands to the other three capabilities, and what it takes back from them.
- 02
Performance Media
Sets the budget ceiling, channel mix and payback targets that media buys against, and takes the actuals back into the model.
- 03
Creative Lab
Hands the lab the offer, the audience and the ranked hypotheses worth a concept, and reads the test results into the roadmap.
- 04
Conversion Lab
Defines the offer and pricing the funnel has to present, and which steps are worth testing first.
Questions about Growth Strategy.
Something specific to your program? scale@scalewithsand.com
Do we need this if we already have a growth team?
Most clients do have one. Growth Strategy gives that team the economics model, the offer design and the roadmap the rest of the engine runs on, and keeps them current as the numbers move. It replaces spreadsheets and guesswork rather than people.
Can we buy strategy on its own?
Yes. The growth audit is a standalone two-week engagement that ends in a written point of view. Most clients continue into media, creative and conversion work because a plan needs an engine to run on, but that is a separate decision.
How much data do you need?
Ad platform access, your analytics, and patient-level revenue data with dates of first purchase and refills. Cohort retention is the piece most teams lack in a usable form, so rebuilding it is often the first job.
Applied across eight categories.
The capability is the same on every engagement. What it is pointed at changes with the category, its claim rules and its retention curve.
- GLP
GLP-1 & medical weight loss
High-intent demand, compounding subscription economics, heavy creative regulation.
- TRT
TRT & men's health
Recurring labs and refills where retention decides the CAC you can afford.
- HRT
HRT & women's health
Long consideration cycles that reward education-led creative and patient trust.
- HAIR
Hair loss
Commoditized offers where landing page and pricing presentation win the margin.
- SEX
Sexual health
Platform-sensitive claims that demand compliance-literate creative testing.
- DERM
Dermatology
Visual-first categories where before/after storytelling has to stay compliant.
- LONG
Longevity & wellness
Premium cash-pay programs that sell on outcomes and hold their price.
- CASH
Cash-pay care
Any recurring, direct-to-patient program with real unit economics.
Build a stronger, more profitable patient acquisition engine.
Tell us about your program and current numbers. We will come back with a point of view on where the growth is.
