Marketing for healthcare

Typical bottlenecks and solutions

1. Customers buy from the cheapest provider

Why: For over-the-counter products, many people search specifically by product name or PZN (the German pharmaceutical product number) and end up at the cheapest offer via price comparison sites. This creates hardly any loyalty to a pharmacy, and every order has to be bought again. Yet a large part of demand is predictable: long-term products, food supplements, care products, hearing aid batteries and accessories are repurchased at regular intervals.

Solution (Email Marketing): We build CRM flows based on consumption: repurchase reminders matched to pack size, notes on delivery times and service content instead of permanent discounts. Segments by product group and purchase rhythm make sure existing customers order directly from you before they compare again. We measure repeat purchase revenue per customer and contribution margin per order.

2. Ads fail because of the Heilmittelwerbegesetz

Why: For medicines, medical devices such as hearing aids and health-related claims, the German Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG, the law on advertising for medicinal products and treatments) sets tight limits: no misleading promises of efficacy, mandatory information in pharmaceutical advertising, no advertising of prescription-only medicines to the general public. On top of that come Meta's and Google's health policies. The result is rejected ads, restricted accounts and watered-down creatives that campaigns can barely learn from.

Solution (Performance Marketing): We develop creatives and landing pages that sit within the HWG and platform policies from the very first draft, and have critical claims legally reviewed before going live. Instead of efficacy promises, we work with product range, service, delivery time and advice. An account structure with separate product groups prevents individual rejections from slowing down the entire ad account.

3. Online sales are only just getting started

Why: Hearing care providers, medical supply stores and high-street pharmacies traditionally sell through their branches and personal advice. The online channel is often built on the side, without its own marketing team, without clean tracking and with unclear roles between branch and shop. With hearing aids, there is the added fact that the path from online hearing test through fitting and trial wearing to purchase involves several steps.

Solution (Consulting & Interim): Sascha Blum takes on responsibility for a fixed period as interim CMO or adviser. He builds the marketing department, tracking and funnels, defines the KPIs for each stage and uses AI where it takes work off the team. That is how he did it at Audoora. Afterwards we hand over to your team or continue to look after individual channels.

Reference: apo-discounter.de (online pharmacy) and Audoora (hearing care)

• > 1,000% ROAS for apo-discounter.de
• 6,000% maximum ROAS

For apo-discounter.de we managed performance campaigns in an environment with strict advertising rules, reaching more than one million users. At Audoora, a provider of hearing aids sold online, Sascha Blum was interim CMO from 2023 to 2024: he built the marketing department, introduced tracking and funnels and integrated AI into the workflows.

Service mix

• Email Marketing: Repurchase and service flows by product group and pack size that bring existing customers back before they compare prices again.
• Performance Marketing: Google Shopping and Meta campaigns with HWG-reviewed creatives, separated into sensitive and uncritical areas of the product range.
• Tracking with Tracyn (partner Atmos): Server-side tracking with Tracyn for Shopify shops that respects consent and still delivers enough purchase signals for steering.
• Consulting & Interim: An interim CMO for a fixed period for hearing care providers and pharmacies that are still building online sales, a team and a data foundation.

What we steer by (KPIs)

• Repeat purchase revenue per customer: Shows whether existing customers order directly or come back via price comparisons.
• Ad rejection rate: An early warning signal for conflicts with the HWG and the platforms' health policies.
• Cost per hearing test appointment: In hearing care, the decisive step between online interest and fitting.
• Contribution margin per order: With tight margins in the pharmacy range, it decides whether advertising for new customers pays off.

Timing: Cold season in autumn and winter, allergy season in spring and sun protection in summer noticeably shift demand across the range. In hearing care, we plan appointment campaigns around the school holidays, because fitting and trial wearing take time.

Legal (to be checked by a lawyer)

• We observe the limits of the Heilmittelwerbegesetz (HWG), in particular avoiding misleading efficacy claims and advertising of prescription-only medicines to the general public.
• We observe the mandatory information in pharmaceutical advertising and the health policies of Meta, Google and TikTok.
• We make sure that discount and bonus promotions do not breach the fixed pricing for prescription-only medicines.
• We make sure that health data in tracking and CRM is only processed with explicit consent and as sparingly as possible.

FAQ

Are online pharmacies allowed to advertise on Meta and Google? Yes, within clear limits. Over-the-counter products, cosmetics, food supplements and services can be advertised if the claims comply with the HWG and the platform policies are followed. Google requires online pharmacies to be certified beforehand. Advertising prescription-only medicines to the general public is prohibited in Germany.

How does marketing for hearing aids work? The purchase happens in stages: interest, online hearing test or appointment booking, fitting, trial wearing, decision. We build funnels that generate appointments and email sequences that accompany people between the stages and remind them of open appointments. We measure all the way to the device sold, so budget goes where sales actually happen.

How much does working with you cost? Email marketing starts at €3,000 per month, Performance Marketing at €1,500 per platform, and each additional platform costs €900 more. We price interim mandates according to scope. All prices are net, plus ad budget, which usually makes sense from €5,000 per month. The contract term is one month.

Do you also work for high-street pharmacies? Yes, if there is an online shop or a clearly measurable online goal, such as pre-orders, appointment bookings or customer card sign-ups. Pure image advertising without a measurable result is less of a fit for our approach, because we calculate upfront and then steer on revenue and cost per result.