How to Market a Medical Practice: Restrictions & Clinic Advertising Ideas

Dozens of private clinics and laboratory chains are actively competing for patients. At the same time, the medical industry is one of the most sensitive when it comes to digital marketing — it’s full of restrictions, regulations, and advertising bans.

In this article, together with Promodo PPC specialist Nina Shataylo, we explore how marketing for clinics works in the healthcare sector, what you need to know about digital marketing for clinics, and how to market a medical practice. 

Navigating Legal and Platform Rules for Medical Advertising in the U.S.

Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated industries when it comes to digital advertising. In the U.S., medical clinic marketing must comply with a combination of federal and state laws, including:

• The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs how patient data can be collected, stored, and used in advertising.
  
  
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines prohibit misleading claims, unsubstantiated guarantees of treatment results, or deceptive advertising practices.
  
  
• FDA regulations — for clinics offering or promoting drugs, medical devices, or aesthetic treatments involving regulated substances (like Botox).
  
  

In addition to legal rules, ad platforms like Google and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) impose their own restrictions on healthcare ads.

Key Platform Limitations for healthcare practice marketing:

• Google restricts personalized ads (including remarketing) for healthcare-related content. You can’t target users based on their past interactions with your clinic’s site if your services fall into sensitive categories such as medical treatments or diagnostics.
  
• Meta allows remarketing but requires careful targeting and strict content compliance. You can build audiences from website visitors or people who interacted with your page, and use lookalike audiences — but you cannot imply knowledge of a user's health condition or make direct claims.
  
  

"Even though remarketing is restricted on Google, campaigns can still effectively reach potential patients through contextual targeting, interest-based audiences, and location targeting."
— Nina Shataylo, PPC Specialist at Promodo

Landing Page Best Practices:

To comply with ad platform policies and avoid disapprovals or account bans, landing pages should:

• Avoid naming specific drugs or restricted treatments (e.g., Botox) unless you're certified and approved.
• Refrain from making absolute guarantees (e.g., “100% cured” or “we’ve healed 100 out of 100 patients”).
• Avoid misleading before/after imagery or scare tactics (e.g., “If you don’t act now, your condition will worsen”).
  Display licenses, accreditations, and regulatory disclosures if required.
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Meta’s Restrictions on Using Facebook Pixel Events

​​In January–February 2025, Meta began enforcing tighter rules across several industries, including healthcare. Advertisers have been warned that usage of Facebook Pixel events to track user behavior on medical-related websites may be restricted.

Consequently, launching Facebook healthcare marketing aimed at website conversions may now be limited or unavailable—particularly for mid- and lower-funnel events like form submissions or appointment bookings. Facebook ads for healthcare can still run health ads focused on reach or traffic, but they won’t receive data on conversions. These changes stem from concerns over user privacy and the sensitivity of medical content—similar to Google’s restrictions on personalized targeting for healthcare.

Google Ads Healthcare Policy

Restricted medical content Google Ads is another considerable challenge faced by medical pratices. Over the past few months, Google has begun limiting the amount of data available through its free internal tools for industries affected by its personalized advertising restrictions, such as healthcare, alcohol, and others. For example, the Keyword Planner tool, which helps identify what users are searching for online and assess demand for certain products or services, now shows reduced visibility for some queries. As a result, it complicated health advertising. 

For a search like “dermatologist in Denver,” the tool may return no results or only limited data, even though we know there is clear demand for this service. In such cases, when launching health product advertisements, we rely on whatever data is still accessible (as Google hasn’t removed it entirely), as well as on our own experience and expertise.

If we know that certain keywords have previously driven results but now appear with no data in the planner, we understand this is likely a restriction imposed by Google — not a sudden drop in demand. Our experience with similar niches allows us to make informed decisions about Google ads for healthcare instead of working blindly.

The Role of Copy and Creatives in Promoting Medical Clinics

Just like in any other niche, ad copy and banners for medical clinic marketing play a crucial role. They must be crafted in compliance with platform policies and current legislation. Here are key practices to avoid:

• Guaranteeing results: You cannot claim things like “100% recovery guaranteed” or “our doctor cured 100 out of 100 patients.”
• Exaggeration or misleading information: All claims must be accurate, reasonable, and fact-based.
• Before/after comparisons: Avoid using visual or written content that promises dramatic transformations.
• Fear-based messaging: Phrases like “if you don’t see a doctor now, your condition may become incurable” are strictly prohibited.

However, a disclaimer warning against self-medication is not mandatory, as promoting medical clinics implies the provision of professional healthcare services, which inherently rules out the possibility of self-treatment.

What Goals Can Healthcare PPC Serve in Promoting Medical Clinics?

1. Reach and brand awareness. We can launch campaigns aimed at maximizing audience reach, increasing engagement, and enhancing overall brand recognition for the clinic. The more we invest in such campaigns, the larger the share of potential patients we can attract.
2. Driving website traffic. Another goal is to bring more users to the clinic’s website.
3. Lead generation. Getting users to take specific actions, such as submitting inquiries or making phone calls.

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When choosing goals and strategies, it's important to consider the context:

Medical Clinic Recognition

If the clinic is already well-known and has a good reputation, we can immediately focus on conversion-oriented campaigns, as people already know and trust the brand. However, if it's a lesser-known or new clinic, or one with very limited geographical coverage (e.g., operating only in one city district and unknown in others), launching ads directly for leads might be ineffective. In such cases, brand awareness needs to be built first.

Type of Service and Geography

If a clinic offers relatively simple services, like consultations or basic diagnostics, people usually look for them close to home or work. However, when it comes to complex surgeries or unique procedures, patients are willing to travel to another city, region, or sometimes even country. Accordingly, if a clinic offers a unique service, it makes sense to consider broader geotargeting.

The type of medical clinic also influences the promotion strategy:

Multidisciplinary Clinics

The business might request promotion for all directions or only specific ones—it's very individual.

Highly Specialized Clinics

These include dental, ophthalmological, dermatological, etc., clinics. In such clinics, there are often specific services that owners want to promote more actively.
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“It's important to understand that attracting clients for complex and expensive services, like dental implants, isn't a simple process. Just running a Facebook ad won't guarantee a large number of leads. The client's journey here can be long.
Very often, decisions about such procedures are made based on word-of-mouth, reviews, or the search for a specific doctor. Even if a clinic has high recognition and a strong brand, a person might choose a place where a recommended specialist practices”.

Nina Shatailo, PPC Specialist at Promodo

Promodo Experience in Digital Marketing for Medical Practices

We analyze the situation even before active work begins and provide our marketing ideas for medical clinic. For instance, we examine the frequency of search queries – is there real demand for the clinic's services? What specific category of people is the target audience, and where can they be found?

Further work is always built upon data analysis and testing different hypotheses, as each medical field and clinic has its own specifics. If we see that achieving the desired number of leads first requires investing in brand awareness, we might recommend that service, which our colleagues from the Media department handle.

At the same time, for successful PPC promotion, the quality of the landing page—where the user lands after clicking the ad—is crucial.
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“If a person clicks on an ad but lands on a confusing page where it's hard to find the necessary information or complete a target action (like signing up or calling), they'll most likely just leave the site”.

Nina Shatailo, PPC Specialist at Promodo

Therefore, the work of healthcare SEO specialists and content managers who prepare these pages is highly significant. Even if a page contains a lot of useful information but it's unstructured and unclear to the client, it can negate the efforts of an advertising campaign. This is a clear example of the importance of a comprehensive approach and the interaction of various internet marketing directions.
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Promotion Costs and Competition in the Healthcare Industry

In the medical niche, the cost per click (CPC) is, on average, higher than in many other industries. However, the conversion rate from this traffic to potential leads (applications, calls) can also be higher. As a result, the actual cost per lead (CPL) might be similar to other niches, or even lower.

It's crucial to understand, though, that a lead isn't yet a paying client. Converting a lead into an actual client can be a lengthy process. We also factor in intense competition. For relatively simple and common services, like diagnostics (e.g., ultrasound), a client might choose between various clinics, comparing terms and prices. When it comes to more complex and expensive procedures, such as surgeries (unless it's an emergency requiring immediate action), a person might take a very long time to prepare. 

Find more information about healthcare digital marketing benchmarks in our report. 
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“A patient might submit an application today, but schedule an appointment three months later, or have a consultation and decide on surgery six months down the line. This is a complex process, and to track it effectively, it's ideal for the client to have a robust analytical system capable of processing all data, analyzing the customer journey, and calculating LTV (Lifetime Value)”.
Nina Shatailo, PPC Specialist at Promodo

Promotion of Medical Laboratories

For medical laboratory advertisement, it's relevant to promote both individual tests and packages for annual check-ups or disease screening.

However, how the information is presented is crucial. It's unacceptable to use scare tactics or excessive pressure in calls to action (e.g., phrases like "urgently get tested, otherwise there could be serious consequences" are strictly forbidden).

Texts must be neutral and general, focusing on the unique selling propositions (USPs) of the laboratory or clinic, such as accuracy, speed, or comfort. The main goal is not to give people the impression that fatal consequences await them if they don't get tested immediately.

Read our case study on how we increased the organic performance of a medical laboratory!
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Digital Marketing for Aesthetic Clinics

Promodo also has experience in aesthetic clinic advertising. This is a very popular and actively developing niche, and consequently, a highly competitive one. Success here depends on what exactly a clinic can offer to attract clients. This might include:

• Doctors and Specialists: Especially relevant in cosmetology under the personal brand of a well-known cosmetologist with an established audience.
• Promotions and Pricing Policy: Some clients are primarily price-oriented, sometimes without deeply considering the specialist's qualifications.
• Equipment and Technologies: The quality and modernity of the equipment used for procedures also play a significant role in this field.
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Read in detail about effective marketing strategies for dermatology practices, top plastic surgery marketing strategies, and local SEO for dermatologists!

Healthcare Marketing Ideas and Recommendations

For effective PPC campaigns, several client-side factors are crucial:

Brand Recognition and Reputation. Undoubtedly, the more people know the brand and the better its reputation, the more effective advertising campaigns will be.

High-Quality and User-Friendly Website. The clinic's website must be convenient and intuitive for the user. If a patient finds it difficult to navigate, find necessary information, or submit an application, it will impact the results of advertising campaigns.

Correctly Configured Analytics. This is an extremely important aspect. For medical services, the primary conversions are typically completed forms on the website and phone calls. Therefore, it's critically important to have call tracking set up (this is a separate platform that registers and tracks calls), allowing the clinic to analyze the source of inquiries.

Data from online forms and call tracking must be correctly transmitted to advertising accounts to evaluate campaign effectiveness and optimize them.
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Not sure how to promote your clinic within all the rules?

Contact Promodo — we’ll guide you.

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