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Channel Activation › Healthcare PPC

Most healthcare PPC fails because generalist agencies don't understand the regulated funnel.

Your patient acquisition cost is climbing. Your HCP cost-per-lead is unreadable. The agency running your accounts is great at e-commerce and out of their depth on medical claim approvals. We run paid media specifically for healthcare brands: patient acquisition, HCP engagement, and self-pay funnel mechanics, across Google, Meta, programmatic, and LinkedIn. Regulated platforms, clinical reviewers, and conversion infrastructure that maps to your real commercial outcome, not to a vanity dashboard.

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Healthcare marketing leader reviewing PPC performance dashboards with the data team

Does this sound familiar?

The CAC Creep

Your patient cost-per-acquisition has doubled in twelve months. Your agency is showing you click-through-rate as evidence of optimisation. You can't tie any of it back to a booked consultation, a prescription, or a paying patient.

The HCP Cost Mystery

You're spending GBP 50K a quarter targeting clinicians on LinkedIn and Sermo. Form fills look fine on the dashboard. Sales says none of them are showing up as opportunities. Nobody can explain the gap.

The Platform Rejection Loop

Google has rejected your campaign three times for medical claims. Meta keeps disapproving your patient creative. Your agency keeps resubmitting with minor tweaks. Two months later you still haven't gone live.

The Generalist Agency Problem

Your account manager came from a fashion e-commerce account. They've never read a SmPC. They think MLR is optional. You've spent six months teaching them the basics instead of getting results.

Healthcare PPC is its own discipline. Treat it like one.

Paid media for healthcare runs on different rails to every other vertical. The platforms restrict claims, the audiences are hard to verify, the buying cycle is months not minutes, and the regulatory layer means every asset goes through MLR before it gets a single impression. Generalist agencies optimise for clicks because that's what they know how to do. Specialist healthcare PPC optimises for the commercial outcome, which is a booked patient, a converted HCP, or a self-pay enquiry that the clinic actually turns into revenue.

We run paid media for patient acquisition, HCP engagement, and self-pay funnel mechanics across Google, Meta, programmatic, LinkedIn, and HCP-only platforms like Sermo and Doximity. Every account we touch has a clinical reviewer attached, a claims matrix that gets pre-cleared for platform approval, and a conversion infrastructure that ties back to your CRM so you can see the actual ROI, not the dashboard metric.

We do not do generic e-commerce PPC. We do not take on cosmetic surgery clinics or wellness brands outside our healthcare specialism. The depth comes from working only in this category.

The cheapest click is not the cheapest patient.

How we deliver healthcare PPC at scale.

Audit, claims clearance, build, optimise. Always tied to a commercial outcome, never to a dashboard.

01

Account audit & commercial mapping

First four weeks. Full audit of existing accounts (where they exist), conversion attribution chain end-to-end (impression to revenue), keyword and audience landscape, competitor share-of-voice, and a claims-clearance review against your regulatory environment. Output: a stop-doing list, a start-doing list, and a forecast you can take to your CFO.

02

Claims matrix & platform clearance

Before any campaign goes live, we build a claims matrix that maps every advertising claim to its evidence source and pre-clears it for Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and any HCP-only platforms in scope. Reduces platform rejection rate from typical 40-60% to under 10%. Saves weeks of resubmission cycles.

03

Build, launch, and conversion infrastructure

Campaign build aligned to the funnel stage and audience type. Patient campaigns use compliant DTC creative, landing pages built for conversion, and CRM-tied form capture. HCP campaigns use specialist platforms, verified-clinician targeting, and lead-scoring infrastructure your sales team can actually use.

04

Weekly optimisation, monthly reporting against revenue

Weekly account optimisation by senior media buyers, not junior account managers. Monthly performance reports tied to commercial outcomes, not click metrics. Quarterly strategic review with you and your CFO to align spend to revenue impact.

What you get every month.

Account management & optimisation

Senior media buyer running your account hands-on. No agency layer between you and the person actually clicking the buttons.

Claims-cleared creative production

Display, video, search, and social creative built for healthcare platforms, pre-cleared against your claims matrix. Refresh cycle as agreed (typically monthly for patient campaigns, quarterly for HCP).

Landing page conversion infrastructure

Healthcare-specific landing pages built for conversion. Form capture wired to your CRM. Tracking and attribution end-to-end. Optional A/B testing on patient-facing pages.

MLR submission packs

Every campaign packaged for MLR sign-off with claims evidence, sourcing, and version control. Reduces your medical affairs team's review burden by 60-80% compared to receiving raw creative.

Weekly performance dashboards

Tied to your actual commercial outcome (booked patient, verified HCP, qualified enquiry), not platform vanity metrics. Built in Looker Studio, Power BI, or your existing reporting stack.

Monthly review & quarterly strategic session

Monthly review with your marketing lead. Quarterly strategic session with you and your CFO to align spend to revenue impact and forecast next quarter's growth scenarios.

Real healthcare PPC. Real commercial outcomes.

Enterprise

Contura (Arthrosamid), patient acquisition across UK, Germany, Sweden

Problem

Arthrosamid needed direct-to-patient demand generation across three markets simultaneously: UK as the scale engine, Germany growing steadily, Sweden launching new. Patient-facing campaigns inside a regulated category, with MLR approval cycles, platform-claim rejections, and the need to tie every spend back to a booked consultation at a verified clinic.

What we did

Built and ran the paid acquisition engine across Meta and Google, with claims-cleared creative for each market, localised landing pages, and a CRM-tied enquiry capture that fed directly to the clinic network. Seasonal persona portfolio (Ski, Hiking, Football, Running, Rugby) with tier-promoted dedicated landing pages where data justified the investment.

Result

Sweden delivered 39 forms and 8.3x ROAS in month one of launch, beating Germany's launch trajectory. UK established as the scale engine. Distributor-funded expansion case (Frankfurt, Cologne, Stuttgart) supported by the same playbook. Patient acquisition cost on a downward trend across quarters.

Growing Companies

Momentum Clinic, paid media for self-pay HCP audience

Problem

Established healthcare clinic with strong clinical credentials but underperforming paid media. Cost-per-enquiry climbing, conversion to booked consultation falling, no visibility on what was actually working at the campaign level.

What we did

Brought in specialist partner agency under AGENCY oversight, restructured Google and Meta accounts against a new conversion taxonomy, rebuilt landing pages for the regulated self-pay funnel, and installed weekly reporting tied to booked consultations not form fills.

Result

Cost-per-booked-consultation trended down in the first quarter, with full attribution visibility for the first time. Account structure now scalable for new service line additions.

Enterprise

Inspiration Healthcare (IPL), PE-backed oncology DTC pilot

Problem

PE-backed oncology business piloting direct-to-patient marketing for a sensitive clinical category. Compliance bar high, brand reputation considerations explicit, board-level visibility on every campaign decision.

What we did

Designed the pilot inside a strict MLR-cleared framework, with named clinical reviewer, defined escalation routes for any platform challenge, and conservative spend ramping tied to weekly outcome review. Built CRM and reporting infrastructure to support board-grade reporting from day one.

Result

Pilot delivered to plan inside compliance envelope. Board-grade reporting infrastructure now reusable for the next category. PE sponsor able to make scale-up decision on real data, not assumption.

* A note on named work. Healthcare clients often need to keep brands, campaigns, and ongoing relationships private. We respect that. If the work above sounds like your situation, the triage call is the place to hear about similar engagements in confidence.

The economics your CFO needs to see.

A specialist healthcare PPC manager costs GBP 70K to GBP 95K fully loaded inside a pharma or MedTech company. Most marketing departments cannot justify the headcount unless they're spending more than GBP 500K a year on paid media. Below that threshold, the math says outsource to a specialist agency. Above it, the math says hire and use a specialist agency for surge capacity and complex platform clearances.

Our retainer pricing starts at GBP 4,500 per month for one platform plus one campaign type (patient OR HCP), and scales to GBP 18,000+ per month for multi-platform, multi-market programmes with named clinical reviewer and self-pay funnel infrastructure included. Media spend is separate and goes direct from you to the platform. We do not mark up media spend, we charge for the management of it.

The economic argument that wins your CFO: a generalist agency rejecting twice as many ads, optimising to clicks not commercial outcomes, and missing the platform compliance window costs you more in lost revenue and team time than a specialist's higher fee ever will. The break-even on switching is typically inside Q1.

Which situation are you in?

First specialist healthcare PPC engagement

You've outgrown the generalist agency.

You've been running paid media with a generalist agency and the wheels are coming off. CAC climbing, platform rejections piling up, no commercial-outcome visibility. We audit, rebuild, and run the new programme alongside your in-house team. First three months are about installing the discipline.

Underperforming existing programme

You're spending real money and not getting answers.

Six-figure annual paid spend with no clear attribution back to revenue. We diagnose the gap, rebuild the conversion infrastructure, and re-platform the campaigns inside your existing tech stack. Most engagements pay back inside Q1 on attribution clarity alone.

Multi-market scale-up

One market works. You need it to work in five.

You've proved patient acquisition or HCP engagement in one market. Now the board wants the same in three to five more. We run the multi-market playbook: localised creative, market-specific claims clearance, country-level conversion infrastructure. The playbook travels because we built it to travel.

By stage

What this looks like for your business.

Growing Companies

One product, one market, one audience type. You're spending GBP 5K to GBP 50K per month on paid media and not getting clear answers on what's working. Scope: account audit and rebuild, one platform plus one secondary, monthly optimisation, weekly dashboards tied to commercial outcome. From GBP 4,500 per month plus media.

Enterprise

Multi-product, multi-market, multi-audience. You're spending GBP 100K+ per quarter on paid media and need specialist clinical reviewer alongside your in-house team. Scope: full programme management, three platforms plus HCP-only platforms, named clinical reviewer, self-pay funnel infrastructure, monthly performance reviews, quarterly CFO sessions. From GBP 12,000 to GBP 18,000+ per month plus media.

Questions we hear in every triage call.

Why a healthcare specialist rather than our existing PPC agency?

Two reasons. First, platform claim clearance: generalist agencies have a 40-60% ad rejection rate on healthcare creative because they don't pre-clear claims against MLR. We run under 10% rejection because we built the claims clearance into the workflow. Second, audience and funnel mechanics: healthcare buyers (patient or HCP) make decisions on a months-long cycle inside a regulated environment. The optimisation tactics that work in e-commerce or B2B SaaS actively work against you in healthcare.

What platforms do you actually run?

Google Ads (Search, Display, Performance Max where appropriate), Meta (Facebook and Instagram), LinkedIn for HCP targeting, programmatic display for retargeting at scale, and HCP-only platforms like Sermo and Doximity for verified-clinician work. We don't take on TikTok or YouTube Shorts work in healthcare contexts where the compliance and brand-safety bar is too high to justify the volume.

Can you work alongside our in-house marketing team?

Yes. Most of our engagements run as a specialist extension of an in-house team rather than a replacement. Your team owns brand, strategy, and stakeholder management. We own the paid media platform, the creative production, the claims clearance, and the reporting. Hand-offs are weekly.

How do you handle MLR and regulatory review?

Every campaign packaged for MLR with the claims matrix, evidence sourcing, and version control done upfront. Most clients see their internal MLR review time drop 60-80% versus reviewing raw agency creative. For pharma clients with strict review cadences, we work to your existing schedule. We do not push live until cleared.

Do you mark up media spend?

No. Media spend goes direct from you to the platform. We charge a transparent retainer for the management of the account. This aligns our incentives with your outcome rather than your spend.

Can you take on a campaign already in flight?

Yes, with caveats. We need access to existing accounts, historical data, and your current MLR-approved asset library before we can commit to performance targets. Two-week audit usually clears that. We do not promise outcomes on accounts we haven't audited.

What does success look like in the first 90 days?

Week 1-4: audit complete, claims matrix built, rebuild plan agreed. Week 5-8: rebuilt accounts live, baseline metrics captured. Week 9-12: first optimisation cycle complete, first commercial-outcome data flowing, first CFO-grade report delivered. By day 90 you have a working programme, attribution end-to-end, and a forecast for the next quarter you can take to your board.

Who delivers

Strategic Lead

Michael Colling-Tuck

20 years in healthcare commercialisation, 47 launches across 5 continents. Oversees the strategic envelope for every PPC engagement: which platforms make commercial sense, how the paid funnel connects to the rest of the demand-gen architecture, and what the CFO conversation looks like at quarter close.

Specialist healthcare PPC

Senior Media Buyers

A bench of senior buyers with healthcare-only experience across Google, Meta, LinkedIn, and programmatic. Hands-on at the account level. No junior account managers between you and the person clicking the buttons.

Named for pharma and MedTech work

Clinical Reviewer Panel

For pharma and regulated MedTech engagements, named clinical reviewers attached to the account. Pre-clears claims, validates references, and signs off creative before MLR sees it. Cuts your in-house medical affairs burden materially.

Tracking and attribution end-to-end

Conversion & Analytics Lead

Owns the conversion infrastructure: tracking implementation, CRM tie-back, attribution modelling, dashboard build. Makes sure every pound spent ties to a commercial outcome you can see.

You might also need

Patient Marketing

If patient acquisition is the centre of gravity, the Patient Marketing service wraps PPC inside the broader DTC programme including CRM, content, and clinic enablement.

Learn more →

Sales Enablement

If your HCP PPC is generating leads your sales team isn't closing, the gap is usually in enablement. The EQUIP pillar of the 3 E's fixes the conversion side of the funnel.

Learn more →

Medical Copywriting

PPC needs creative. Healthcare creative needs clinical credibility. The Medical Copywriting service produces the assets PPC then puts to work.

Learn more →

Three ways to work with us.

The goal is always the same: you end up more capable, not more dependent.

Done by you

From GBP 850

Healthcare PPC audit and training. Half or full day. We audit your current accounts, teach your in-house team the healthcare-specific platform clearance and funnel mechanics, hand over the playbook. You run it.

Book a workshop →

Done with you

From GBP 4,500/month

One platform plus one campaign type (patient OR HCP). We run the paid media, you run brand and strategy. Monthly optimisation, weekly dashboards, quarterly CFO reviews.

Start a programme →

Done for you

From GBP 12,000/month

Multi-platform, multi-market programme with named clinical reviewer and self-pay funnel infrastructure. Full programme management. You approve at the strategic level, we run everything else.

Scale a programme →

Ready to talk?

30-minute triage call. No fee. No pitch. Bring your situation and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can help.

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