How to Do PPC for Highly Regulated Industries

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    albert somlith

    Co-Founder of PPC Ad Editor. I am a leader in digital marketing, specializing in strategic planning, implementation, and optimization.
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    How to Do PPC for Highly Regulated Industries

    Working in highly regulated industries always presents some risk. But as they always say, there’s no reward without risk. When it comes to advertising and marketing initiatives in this industry, both the company and the marketing firm have to be careful that they stick to the regulations of the industry.

    If this all sounds intimidating, there’s no need to worry. So long as you follow the regulations laid out by the industry you’ll be in the clear. But what if you don’t know about the regulations? Well, that’s why we’ve created this article to walk you through the general considerations for doing PPC in highly regulated industries, as well as the specific considerations for three industries in this category. You’ll learn about those topics and discover what constitutes a highly regulated industry as we explore the following sections:

    • What Constitutes a Highly Regulated Industry?
    • General Tips for PPC in Highly Regulated Industries
    • Specific Tips Regarding PPC for Higher Education
    • Specific Tips Regarding PPC for Healthcare

    What Constitutes a Highly Regulated Industry?

    Typically, a highly regulated industry is an industry that deals with health or finances. In web marketing they are often called YMYL (your money or your life) industries. Because advertising can seriously influence the way that people make decisions, it’s imperative that these industries be regulated against false advertising.

    General Tips for PPC in Highly Regulated Industries

    In general, you should focus on ensuring that whatever content is being advertised only contains factual statements about the product of service being offered. This doesn’t just mean making statements that are mostly true, but that are very clearly entirely true. For instance, if you are advertising for a company that sells supplements, you need to be clear that the benefits may vary from person to person, and will also need to disclose any statements that are not cleared by the FDA.

    The same is true for any clients in the finance industry. You need to be clear that past results are not a guarantee of future results. You also need to ensure that you are not overpromising the potential of an investment option or service.

    These general tips are also useful for all industries. It’s both illegal and unethical to lie to a customer, and beyond that it isn’t good business. By deploying advertising in a way that informs and builds trust, you’ll be on the right track for effective use of PPC in highly regulated industries.

    Specific Tips Regarding PPC for Higher Education

    The world of higher education may not seem like your run of the mill highly regulated industry, but Google has begun to crack down on companies that were overpromising what their graduates could achieve. When it comes to doing PPC for higher education institutions, you need to be sure that the article or page being boosted is only stating facts regarding the programs and courses. To clarify how this might look, let’s take a look at two statements and unpack what does and doesn’t work.

    1. When you graduate from University X’s business school, you’ll have employers lining up at your door!” – At first glance, nothing seems too amiss about this statement. It’s pretty clear that it is being hyperbolic, but regulations don’t have any interest in whether or not you’re making a joke. It’s always better to be overly factual than to land yourself in hot water.
    2. Graduating with a degree in business from University X can increase your chances of finding entry-level employment.” – This statement is much safer. The use of non-guaranteed language implies that finding entry-level employment is easier to find with a degree, which is true. It also does not guarantee that you will find a position once you have a degree, which is helpful as the likelihood of finding a job varies greatly from student to student.

    Specific Tips Regarding PPC for Healthcare

    Healthcare is a strictly regulated industry for PPC and other forms of web marketing, and with good reason. With medical misinformation running rampant, a false advertisement can pose serious risk to patients who likely don’t possess the medical knowledge needed to separate truth from fiction. To ensure that you remain on the right side of these regulations, Google has provided a helpful list of advertising policies related to healthcare. Here are some of the key takeaways from their list:

    • Pharmaceutical companies may not promote prescription opioid painkillers
    • The company must be licensed for pharmacies in the targeted location
    • Targeting cannot be based on race, identity or other factors with a high rate of abuse
    • Ad must not reference any of the unapproved substances on this list
    • Promotion of speculative treatments are not allowed
    • Clinical trial recruitment is not allowed (except in Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam)
    • Strong claims to the efficacy of a treatment is not allowed unless backed up by statistics or studies

    Specific Tips Regarding PPC for Financial Institutions

    While financial institutions don’t pose life threatening risk like the healthcare industry, false advertising in this space can be incredibly harmful, much like marketing related to institutions of higher learning. Not only do you need to follow the general tips for all highly regulated industries, you need to follow Google’s policies as well as any local regulations. While you will need to research the local regulations based on the location of your client, Google has once again provided a list of advertising policies related to financial institutions. Here are some of the main guidelines that they mention:

    • Legitimate contact information must be provided
    • Associated fees must be disclosed
    • Third-party links to sources or endorsements must be provided
    • Maximum and minimum loan payment periods must be provided
    • A maximum APR must be disclosed for loans
    • A representative example of a loan’s total cost must be provided

    Final Takeaways Regarding PPC for Highly Regulated Industries

    As you can see, there are certainly some things to keep in mind when doing PPC for highly regulated industries. Thankfully, the guidelines that search engines provide are fairly clear and straightforward. If you’re worried about an upcoming PPC ad campaign for a highly regulated industry, there’s no need to be concerned. The experienced professionals at PPC Ad Editor have worked with clients in pharmaceuticals, higher education and finance, and we’re happy to help you find a solution for your clients.

    Simply contact us to see how we can help you overcome the challenges facing your PPC ad campaign for a client in a highly regulated industry. 

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    Working in highly regulated industries always presents some risk. But as they always say, there's no reward without risk. When it comes to advertising and marketing initiatives in this industry, both the company and the marketing firm have to be careful that they stick to the regulations of the industry.