Video-first. Compliance-aware. Built by an operator who has spent twelve years inside health, wellness, and behavioral health programs. The agency we wish had existed when we were the client.
Real numbers, sourced citations. We do not invent stats. Every figure links to the original research so you can verify.
Preston Durnford has been inside health, wellness, and behavioral health for 12 years as both marketer and operator. The agency was originally called Epic Journey. Its profits funded the opening of the first detox in 2015 (Fresh Start of California Detox, acquired 2024). Then co-founded SoCal Mental Health ($12M raised), authored The Epic Journal (20,000+ copies sold), and now operates Epic Journey Recovery (epicjourneyrecovery.co) as the sister behavioral health company to PELORA Marketing.
What that means for you: we have actually built and run programs in this category. We do not need to be educated on functional medicine modalities, GMB strategy for med spas, hormone clinic buyer psychology, or why CAC matters less than LTV in longevity.
From the founder · 2 min
Preston Durnford · PELORA
Each niche has different buyer psychology, different ad-platform approval rules, different keyword targets, and different content that converts. We do not run a generic wellness playbook. Each engagement is tuned.
$250B+ market by 2030. High-LTV, high-trust. Buyers research deeply. Practitioner-led video closes more than any single channel. Insurance-self-pay split changes the funnel.
$20B U.S. market. Map pack lives or dies. Reviews are oxygen. Before/after content carries the funnel. Local SEO + GMB + paid social wins.
Premium price tags ($10K-$50K+ programs). Buyers want science, evidence, and proof. Long-form content wins. Founder authority compounds.
Compliance-aware messaging. Telehealth-style funnels work. Video on symptoms and outcomes. Recurring revenue model.
Local-led category. Map pack matters. Membership and package pricing increase LTV. UGC works exceptionally well.
Medical-clinical positioning required. Mental health angle. FDA-approved Spravato adds credibility. Education content sells.
Brand-led category. Founders on camera. Podcast culture matters. Long-form content compounds. Category-authority play.
Compounded GLP-1 (telehealth) versus research-only (BPC-157, TB-500). Different ad platforms, different compliance. Full peptide page →
Performance-marketing led. Creative testing volume matters. Subscription billing. UGC + influencer + paid social stack.
Local for studios, national for online coaches. Transformation content drives signup. Free-trial offers convert.
Membership-led category. Sensorial content wins. Local + experiential. Group bookings drive revenue.
National scale. Telehealth funnel. CAC-LTV obsessed. Creative testing volume matters. Subscription model.
Long-form interviews with functional medicine doctors, ketamine clinic operators, and recovery practitioners. Plays inline, no need to leave the page. This is the asset library we build for every client.
1h 26m
Cambria Judd, MD
Functional medicine · Cambria Judd, MD
Long-form practitioner video. The exact format that ranks on YouTube and gets cited by AI Overviews.
1h 01m
Dr. Kristi Vaughan
Functional medicine · Dr. Kristi Vaughan
Cinematic on-location shoot. Outdoor setting, two camera, branded lower thirds, full B-roll.
49 min
Sam Mandel · Ketamine Clinics LA
Ketamine clinic · Sam Mandel
Studio-style podcast format. Operator-to-operator. The format that scales for any clinic.
Source: Wyzowl 2025 Video Marketing Statistics. For health and wellness, the number is higher because the buyer wants to see the practitioner, the clinic, the protocol, and the outcome before booking.
The why. The philosophy. What makes you different. Most-watched single video format in wellness.
TrustMD, DO, NP, PA, RN, ND, RD, LAc. Walk the modality, the protocol, the day. Builds professional credibility.
CredibilityReal outcomes with full media release. The single most powerful conversion asset a wellness brand can hold.
ConversionThe often-overlooked persuasive video. Mom, dad, spouse, sibling who paid for or pushed for the appointment.
The buyerTreatment rooms, equipment, vibe, team. Demystifies the experience. Drives bookings from cold traffic.
AuthenticityWellness buyers start in Google, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Overviews. The brands that compound run all three at the same time. PELORA builds the technical foundation once and the same work feeds every surface. Full deep dive on SEO/AEO/GEO →
Get your page to rank in the ten blue links on Google or Bing. The traditional game. Local SEO matters most for clinics, national SEO matters most for D2C wellness brands.
Get cited when prospects ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini for category recommendations. The new game. Schema.org, FAQ, entity disambiguation, citation density.
Pulled into AI generated summaries above search results. Google AI Overviews. Bing Copilot. ChatGPT search. Builds on the SEO foundation.
For local wellness categories (med spa, IV, hormone, ketamine, functional medicine), the map pack is the single highest-conversion surface that exists. PELORA optimizes GMB and runs an automated review program from day one.
Primary category, services menu, real photos, hours, owner posts, Q&A, tracking. Done in week one.
HubSpot or GoHighLevel triggers SMS + email request after every appointment with direct review link.
Every review gets a thoughtful, owner-voiced reply within 24 hours. Negative reviews handled with care.
4 to 8 posts per month with photos, offers, blog excerpts. Keeps the listing active and visible.
No four-vendor handoffs. The same team shoots the video, runs the ads, builds the website, optimizes GMB, automates the CRM, and writes the blog. Operator-led.
Multi-day shoots capturing founders, practitioners, patients (with releases), and day-in-the-life. Cinematic quality.
Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn. Strategy, calendar, posting, captions, hashtags, community.
Compliant creative for healthcare verticals. Through Meta healthcare review and Google healthcare policies.
Conversion-focused websites and dedicated landing page builds. Webflow or WordPress. Schema-ready.
Logo, type system, color, voice, photography direction, brand guidelines. Done once, used everywhere.
Local wellness lives or dies by the map pack. Full GMB optimization plus automated review-request flows.
HubSpot, GoHighLevel, custom workflows. Speed to lead under 5 minutes. Missed-call text-back. SMS sequences.
Chatbase or custom GPT trained on your brand voice, services, pricing, FAQs, and booking flow. 24/7 lead capture.
4 to 8 posts/month written in your voice. FAQ schema, internal linking. Ranks on Google, gets cited by AI.
Industry benchmarks for growth-stage wellness brands run 15 to 20 percent of gross revenue on marketing (Deloitte CMO Survey, Gartner CMO Spend Survey). Here is roughly how we split that across the stack.
Allocation shifts by niche. Med spa skews more to creative and reviews. Functional medicine skews more to long-form video, blog, and AEO. Telehealth wellness skews more to paid ads and creative volume. The point is that every line on this stack feeds the others.
Pricing reflects what the work actually costs to deliver at on-location, operator-led quality. See all six tiers from Launch ($2,500) to Full-Service ($18K+) →
PELORA Marketing is a health and wellness marketing agency in Newport Beach, California, founded by Preston Durnford. We work across the full wellness category: functional medicine, med spa, longevity, hormone replacement, IV/NAD+, ketamine, biohacking, peptide brands, supplements, fitness, and consumer health. Our edge is operator experience: 12 years sober, co-founded behavioral health programs (Fresh Start of California Detox sold 2024, SoCal Mental Health $12M raised), authored The Epic Journal (20,000+ copies sold).
Video is the highest-trust format and health and wellness is a high-trust purchase. Wyzowl's 2025 video marketing report found 89 percent of consumers say a brand video has convinced them to buy a product or service, and 91 percent of businesses use video as a marketing tool. For wellness, the buyer wants to see the practitioner, the clinic, the protocol, and the outcome before booking. PELORA shoots founders, clinicians, providers, and patients (with releases), then distributes the same shoot across website, blog, ads, social, email, SMS, and Google Business Profile.
Yes, in most cases. Functional medicine, longevity, hormone replacement, IV/NAD+, biohacking, and med spa categories run on Google Ads under standard healthcare ad policies. Google may restrict specific claims (cure language, off-label messaging, weight-loss outcomes) and may require provider verification. Ketamine clinics run on Google Ads with healthcare verification. Behavioral health and addiction treatment require separate LegitScript certification. PELORA structures creative, copy, and landing pages so ads clear review on the first submission.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) gets you ranked in the ten blue links on Google. AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) gets your brand cited when prospects ask ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, or Gemini for category recommendations. GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) gets your content pulled into AI-generated summaries above search results, including Google AI Overviews and Bing Copilot. Wellness brands that run all three compound, because AI assistants pull citations from the SEO-ranked pool.
Local wellness categories live and die by Google Business Profile. The map pack is the highest-conversion local surface for med spa, IV clinic, hormone replacement, ketamine, and functional medicine searches. PELORA optimizes GMB primary category, real photos, weekly posts, services menu, Q&A, and review responses. We also build automated review-request flows triggered after appointments. Realistic outcome: 8 to 25 net-new five-star reviews per month, dominate the local pack within 90 to 180 days.
AI chatbots installed on a wellness brand website typically lift booked-appointment rate by 20 to 40 percent versus contact form alone. PELORA installs Chatbase or custom-trained GPT-based assistants on the site, scoped to the brand voice, services, pricing, FAQs, and booking flow. The bot answers off-hours, qualifies the lead, and books directly into the calendar. CRM automation (HubSpot, GoHighLevel, custom) catches every lead under 5 minutes via missed-call text-back, two-way SMS, and lifecycle email.
The Global Wellness Institute estimates the global wellness economy at approximately $6.3 trillion annually, growing at 6 to 8 percent year over year. The functional medicine market alone is projected to exceed $250 billion globally by 2030 (Grand View Research). The U.S. medical spa market is over $20 billion (AmSpa). Longevity, hormone replacement, IV/NAD+, ketamine, peptide, and biohacking are each multi-billion dollar verticals growing at double-digit rates.
Industry benchmarks for growth-stage wellness brands run 15 to 20 percent of gross revenue on marketing. For a $1M annual revenue functional medicine clinic, that lines up around $12,500 to $16,500 per month across paid ads, ad management, video, social, web, CRM, and content. PELORA retainers start at $2,500/mo (Launch) and go to $18,000+/mo (Full-Service). Pricing is flat fee. We do not buy or sell leads. We do not take commissions on patient bookings.
Yes. PELORA is headquartered in Newport Beach with concentrated client work across Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego, the Bay Area, Texas, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, Tennessee, Utah, and remote nationwide. We travel for on-location video shoots and have a vetted network of regional camera operators and creative directors so production quality stays consistent regardless of location.
Your category, your spend, your funnel, your gaps. I run the call personally. No pitch deck. Yes-fit or no-fit on the call. If we are a fit, scope follows in 72 hours.
Sources: 1 Global Wellness Institute. 2 Wyzowl 2025 Video Marketing Statistics. 3 Deloitte CMO Survey + Gartner CMO Spend Survey. Functional medicine projection: Grand View Research. Med spa market: AmSpa. PELORA Marketing is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Compliance varies by category, state, and platform; we work alongside your in-house compliance team and healthcare-marketing attorney on every engagement.