Industry
Healthcare marketing and pharma advertising
We run digital marketing and paid media for pharma, healthcare and other regulated categories, working with agencies and brands. We plan targeting, claims review and measurement around the category's limits, with a human approval path before sensitive material goes live.
The work behind the service.
Regulated buying begins with the claim and the audience. A platform can permit an ad format while restricting how a product is described or how people are targeted. We separate those questions in the review. Legal and medical approvals remain with the appropriate reviewers rather than being replaced by a platform acceptance message.
Small professional audiences also change how an account should be read. A market of a few thousand professionals will not behave like a broad consumer audience. Frequency and conversion volume need context, and aggressive expansion can weaken the quality of delivery. We keep the campaign structure legible and the offer specific to the profession.
Health data requires care beyond choosing an event name. We avoid sending sensitive health details in URLs, form fields or advertising event parameters. Consent and data handling are reviewed with the relevant team. Server-side delivery is not permission to transmit information that should not be shared with an advertising platform.
What's included.
- regulated category media
- patient and healthcare professional programs
- paid search and paid social
- social media within compliance requirements
- small-audience buying
- platform policy review
- compliance review workflow
- health-data-aware tracking and measurement
Who we work with in healthcare.
Healthcare covers very different kinds of marketing. Pharmaceutical brands, clinics and health services each face different audiences and rules, and the same plan won't suit all of them.
Pharmaceutical brands and agencies
These programs often have to reach patients and healthcare professionals separately, each with different content, platforms and approvals.
Clinics and health services
These usually need qualified patient enquiries from a defined area. Conversion tracking and lead quality matter a great deal, because a form fill isn't the same thing as a booked patient.
Regulated health and wellness brands
Claims, category rules and retail needs all shape the plan.
Reaching patients and healthcare professionals.
Patients and professionals usually need different plans. A patient may be just learning about a condition. A nephrologist, a cardiologist and a primary care physician have different priorities, and they spend professional time in different places.
We plan these audiences separately, then decide what each needs to see and which platforms can reach them within the rules. Professional audiences can be small, so frequency, message and lead quality often matter more than scale.
Rules that shape the plan.
The rules differ by country, product and platform. In the United States, FDA requirements affect promotional content for prescription products, and HIPAA can apply to how patient information is handled. Canada has its own rules for health product advertising, including tighter limits on consumer advertising of prescription drugs. Platforms then add their own policies on top.
We build those limits into the plan early. Legal, medical and regulatory decisions stay with your qualified reviewers, and we make sure they see what they need with enough time to review it. A platform accepting an ad doesn't mean the ad has been approved for your organization.
Tracking that protects health data.
Standard ad tracking can send more than you intend. A page URL, form field or event name can reveal something about a person's health. Tags and pixels on health sites need review before campaigns rely on them.
We map what each tag collects, remove what shouldn't be sent and agree on consent and review responsibilities with your team. Where direct tracking isn't appropriate, we look for a safer way to measure results, even if it means working with less detail.
How it works.
- 01
Review category and permissions
We establish what is being advertised, in which market and to which audience. We review the platform constraints and the client’s approval process. Where legal interpretation is needed, it remains with the qualified reviewer.
- 02
Define a useful audience and offer
We map the professional or consumer journey within permitted targeting options. The offer must make sense to the audience rather than relying on broad optimization to find intent. We agree on the action the campaign can reasonably ask for.
- 03
Check the measurement design
We inspect events, URLs and data fields for unnecessary sensitive information. We define the permitted conversion signal and its consent requirements. The measurement plan avoids treating a health-related disclosure as a routine advertising parameter.
- 04
Build the review workflow
We establish who approves claims, assets and destination pages. Changes with compliance implications go through that process before publication. Automated checks can support review, but do not replace a responsible approver.
- 05
Buy and review within the market
We monitor delivery, frequency and the agreed outcome against the size of the audience. We keep structure simple enough to explain the result. When the signal is thin, we avoid interpreting a few events as evidence for a major expansion.
Proof from the work.
For AstraZeneca's FARXIGA program, contributing through agency partner Klick Health, the work covered a patient program and a parallel physician strategy across nephrologists, cardiologists and primary care. CPMs fell 41% across core social channels, and physician retargeting lifted 2.2x. These figures describe campaign performance, not clinical outcomes.
For Takeda, working with Klick Health, we directed the cross-functional team behind a year-long, FDA-compliant U.S. social program, and we created digital programs for the dengue vaccine launch.
For a Quebec health clinic, working through an agency partner, we resolved a permissions blocker and shipped verified browser and server-side tracking for a paid social lead generation pilot. Client performance figures are not published.
How we price it.
We bill hourly and set the scope in hours. Strategy and advisory are CAD $175/h. Media management and execution are CAD $110/h. We separate those kinds of work in the estimate so you can see what is being bought, rather than hiding them inside a percentage of spend.
We agree on the deliverables, dependencies and review points before starting. If new work appears, we discuss the hours before expanding the scope. Engineering builds, hosting, software subscriptions, creative production and advertising budgets are identified separately where relevant. We confirm the applicable engineering rate in the scope rather than assigning a media rate to a technical build.
You can engage one discipline without buying the others. A tracking correction does not require ongoing media work, and a media engagement does not require a website rebuild. We recommend a sequence only when the evidence shows a dependency. The estimate makes that relationship visible, so your team can decide what to do now and what can wait.
We also agree on how progress will be reviewed and how hours will be reported. Your team should be able to connect the time used to the work delivered. When an access issue or an approval blocks delivery, we explain the dependency rather than letting it disappear inside an open-ended engagement.
Questions before we start.
What does a healthcare marketing agency do?
A healthcare marketing agency helps health organizations and brands reach patients, caregivers or professionals within the rules of their category. For us, that focuses on digital strategy, paid media, social, tracking and measurement.
Do you work with clinics and medical practices?
Yes, including through agency partners. We focus on enquiries that turn into real patients, and we check tracking and health data handling before scaling a campaign.
Can you market to healthcare professionals?
Yes. We plan professional audiences separately from patients and consider the specialty, the platform and the size of the market.
Do you handle regulatory approval?
No. We build the review process into the plan and support it, while legal, medical and regulatory approval stays with your qualified reviewers.
Can pharma brands advertise on Meta and Google in Canada?
Some categories and messages can advertise, while others face restrictions or additional requirements. We review the product, audience, geography and current platform policies before planning a buy. Regulatory and legal approval remains necessary where applicable.
How do you handle health data in tracking?
We minimize what is collected and sent to advertising tools. Sensitive health details should not be included in URLs or event payloads. We agree on consent, event design and review responsibilities before implementation.
What works when the audience is tiny?
A precise offer, relevant language and a controlled campaign structure often matter more than broad automation. We watch frequency and judge results against the real market size. We do not ask a small audience to provide the learning volume of a mass-market account.
Related services.
Notes from the work.
Buying media in a small, specialized market
When the total addressable audience is a few thousand professionals, broad optimization stops working and craft starts mattering again.
Rebuild the number from its inputs
Four Quebec projects turned on a number that did not hold up. None were caught by looking harder at a slide.
Start a conversation.
Tell us what you are trying to move. We will tell you which disciplines are worth engaging, and which are not.