Becoming LegitScript-certified is a significant milestone — but for telehealth providers, compounding pharmacies, and other healthcare businesses, it’s the beginning of the advertising journey, not the end. Our recent webinar, Best Practices for Advertising in Telehealth & Healthcare Verticals, brought together compliance and digital marketing experts from CareValidate and Multiview to dig into the practical realities of advertising in this space after certification.
Read the key takeaways below, and then watch the webinar.
May 13, 2026 | by LegitScript Folks
Certification Is the Driver’s License, Not the Road Rules
LegitScript Certification is recognized by major advertising platforms including Google, Meta, and Microsoft, and it’s an essential foundation for any healthcare marketing strategy. But you can also think of certification like getting your driver’s license: It qualifies you to be on the road but it doesn't mean you can ignore the traffic laws.
Each platform has its own policies layered on top of LegitScript Certification requirements. On Meta, for example, one panelist explained that healthcare businesses must also register as health-related and meet platform-specific creative requirements. On Google, the applicable policies differ significantly depending on whether you’re a telemedicine provider, an online pharmacy, a pharmaceutical manufacturer, or an addiction services provider. Knowing where you fall within that taxonomy — and checking the requirements specific to your category — is essential groundwork before you ever launch a campaign.
Why Ads Get Flagged Even When Everything Looks Right
Our panelists said that of the most common frustrations they hear from certified providers is that their ads are still getting disapproved. The good news: This is usually not a sign that something is fundamentally wrong. All major advertising platforms use automated systems that flag health-related ads based on specific keywords and content signals. Even well-crafted, compliant ads may be caught by those filters at some point during the lifetime of a campaign.
The key is being prepared before that happens. That means having your LegitScript Certification loaded into the platform in advance, keeping supporting documentation organized and accessible, and being ready to dispute a disapproval quickly. In many cases, once a human reviewer looks at a flagged ad, the outcome is simple: It was caught in error, and you’re back live.
Our webinar experts said that most common substantive reasons for rejection include:
- Unsubstantiated claims
- Missing disclosures
- Mentions of restricted drug names
- Before-and-after imagery
Running through a checklist of these before submitting an ad can save significant time.
GLP-1 Advertising: Focus on Access and Experience, Not Outcomes
Few areas of telehealth advertising generate more questions right now than GLP-1 medications. With evolving FDA guidance around compounded semaglutide, the compliance landscape is shifting, and marketers need to stay current.
The core principle: Compounded GLP-1 medications are not the same as branded versions and may not be marketed as replacements for them. Our panelists warned that any language that compares the two or implies equivalency falls outside FDA guidance.
On outcome claims, the standard is strict. In order to make a specific outcome claim, it must be substantiated by clinical trial data. Most weight loss percentages and transformation-focused messaging don’t clear that bar, according to our panel. The FTC has also made clear that the old practice of adding “results not typical” to a testimonial is no longer sufficient cover for atypical outcomes. Patient stories must be representative of how the average consumer would actually experience the product.
The good news is that effective GLP-1 advertising doesn’t require outcome claims. Consumer awareness of these medications is already high. Campaigns that focus on access, cost, the clinical experience, and the convenience of telehealth-based care can be compelling without wading into the regulatory risk that comes with before-and-after imagery or specific efficacy claims.
HRT and Testosterone Therapy: Know Your Classification and Your Context
Hormone replacement therapy and testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) present their own compliance considerations. On Meta, one panelist noted that most telehealth providers will classify as telemedicine providers rather than pharmacies unless they own and operate their own pharmacy. That classification matters: It determines which treatments you’re permitted to promote and what documentation the platform requires.
For TRT specifically, there’s an additional layer of complexity, according to our webinar experts. Testosterone is a controlled substance, which carries heightened regulatory scrutiny. Platforms and regulatory bodies are particularly attuned to any messaging that frames testosterone as a performance enhancer rather than a hormone treatment — a framing that has appeared historically in this space. Understanding how consumers already perceive a treatment, and making sure your messaging positions it accurately, is an important part of staying compliant.
For both HRT and TRT landing pages, our panel said that compliant messaging should clearly disclose that:
- Treatment requires a prescription
- Licensed providers are involved
- A medical consultation is part of the process.
They recommended avoiding any language claiming FDA approval for specific formulations or guaranteeing results.
Mixing Prescription and OTC Products? Separate Your Campaigns
For providers offering both prescription and over-the-counter products — think prescription tretinoin alongside standard skincare — our panelists said the rule of thumb is straightforward: Your campaign is always subject to the requirements of its most regulated product. If a single campaign includes both OTC and pharmaceutical offerings, the entire campaign must meet pharmaceutical advertising standards.
The practical solution, in most cases, is to separate out the campaigns. Distinct landing pages, distinct ad sets, and where possible, distinct advertising accounts give you the flexibility to apply the appropriate standards to each offering without burdening your OTC campaigns with pharmaceutical-level requirements.
Before-and-After Photos and Testimonials: Tread Carefully
Patient testimonials, especially before-and-after visuals, are a natural fit for telehealth brands excited about patient outcomes. Our panelists warned, however, that they're also one of the easiest ways to run into trouble.
The FTC has been increasingly aggressive about before-and-after imagery, particularly as AI-generated mock-ups have become more prevalent. Our experts’ guidance: in most cases, avoid before-and-afters in the ads themselves. If they're used at all, they’re better suited to landing pages, where there’s room to include full disclosures explaining that results are representative of typical outcomes, that the person depicted is a real patient, and that any monetary relationship between the brand and the patient is disclosed.
When Ads Are Disapproved: Have a Plan
Rather than treating a disapproval as a crisis, our experts recommended that businesses treat it as an expected part of running healthcare advertising campaigns. The teams best positioned to handle disapprovals quickly are the ones that have prepared for them: documentation ready, backup creative approved and in the queue, and a clear process for submitting disputes.
Having a dedicated point of contact whose responsibility includes staying current on platform policies and regulatory guidance — and ensuring consistency across all active campaigns — makes a significant difference. Compliance requirements change frequently. A single person tracking that landscape is more effective than distributing that responsibility across a team.
The Bigger Picture: Build for Agility
The throughline across the entire conversation was this: Healthcare advertising is not a “set it and forget it” environment. Regulations evolve. Platform policies change. FDA guidance on specific treatments shifts. The businesses that advertise successfully in this space build systems that can adapt: a wide pipeline of creative at varying levels of regulatory complexity, regular compliance audits of active campaigns, and messaging frameworks that can be iterated on quickly.
LegitScript Certification gives you the foundation. What you build on top of it — the processes, the creative discipline, the monitoring — is what keeps you advertising compliantly and confidently over time.
If you’re not yet LegitScript-certified, start your application today.
The full webinar recording is available on-demand.
