How Should Telehealth Brands Plan Ad Spend for Black Friday and January?

Should you run a Black Friday offer?

Only if the numbers still work after the discount. A lower first-month price lowers what a patient is worth unless it brings in patients who stay. If you run one, these rules apply.

• The former price has to be real. The FTC's Guides Against Deceptive Pricing say a former price supports a price comparison when it was offered to the public on a regular basis for a reasonably substantial period, and that an inflated price set up to advertise a large reduction makes the bargain false.
• Show the full price. The FTC sued Lens.com on October 2, 2026 over low prices in sponsored Google search ads followed by a mandatory "Taxes & fees" charge at checkout, and its October 5, 2026 letters to healthcare companies warned that a price disclosure can still deceive if it omits fees.
• If the price renews, say so. Under the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, an online subscription must disclose all material terms before taking billing information, get express informed consent before charging, and offer a simple way to stop recurring charges.

On Meta, an ad that promotes a prescription drug, with or without its price, needs prescription drug authorization. Meta lists sharing affordability information, such as price or delivery discounts, among what authorized advertisers can do. Ads that promote telehealth services generally need no authorization.

Getting January ready in December

January creative should be finished, checked and submitted before the holidays. Meta says most ads are reviewed within 24 hours but some take longer, and ads can be reviewed again after they go live. You can create an ad in advance and leave it off, or set a schedule on the ad set, so it starts on the date you choose.

Adding a new ad to a running ad set is itself a significant edit, so plan when January's new ads go live rather than adding them one by one through the first week. Launching them in one change means one learning period instead of several.

Check your category's January pattern before setting the budget. Keyword Planner shows monthly search estimates for keywords, though Google notes that sensitive keywords may not be discoverable or forecastable, and your own past Januaries are the best guide if you have them. Google's seasonality adjustments tell Smart Bidding about a short event when you expect a major change in conversion rate. Google says they suit events of 1 to 7 days, may not work as well beyond 14 days, and that Smart Bidding already manages seasonal events, so they fit a Black Friday sale better than all of January.

A simple calendar

• October: decide whether there will be a Black Friday offer, confirm the former price is real, and brief January creative.
• Early November: freeze structure on ad sets that are working, set the weekly cost ceiling, and agree the budget steps you will take if it is breached.
• Black Friday to Cyber Monday: run the offer, if any, with the full price shown. Use a Google seasonality adjustment only for a short sale you expect to move conversion rates sharply.
• December: finish January ads, get them through review and schedule them.
• January: launch the new ads in one change, then raise budget in steps only while cost per patient holds.

What MedScale does

MedScale Health sets a weekly cost ceiling for November and December, holds proven ad sets steady, checks any promotional price against the FTC's pricing rules before it runs, and has January creative reviewed and scheduled before the holidays. No cost is promised, because the auction sets it. Book the free growth audit for a written Q4 and January plan.