Regulated Brands: Launching and Scaling Campaigns

Working in regulated industries like cannabis, functional mushrooms, and health and wellness has been both challenging and rewarding. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to navigate the intricate landscape of advertising restrictions, compliance guidelines, and consumer perceptions that come with these sectors. What follows is an exploration of how I’ve approached creating ads, building full-funnel strategies, and ultimately scaling campaigns for brands operating within these highly regulated environments.

Understanding the Regulatory Landscape

When I first entered the regulated industry world, understanding the regulatory landscape was one of the most immediate and significant challenges. Unlike traditional markets, advertising in these industries is fraught with restrictions. Platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and Google have strict guidelines that dictate what can and cannot be said in ads. For instance, explicit mentions of cannabis benefits or any health claims are usually prohibited. Navigating these rules requires a deep understanding of the platforms and the legal frameworks surrounding the products.

My team and I heavily emphasize compliance from the beginning to overcome these challenges. We collaborate directly with platform partners like Meta to ensure that every piece of content—from visuals and copy to landing pages—is thoroughly vetted for compliance. This partnership allows us to push creative boundaries while staying within the lines, ensuring that our ads are effective and safe from potential takedowns or bans.

Crafting the Full Funnel

Building a successful campaign in a regulated industry requires more than clever ads; it demands a well-thought-out full-funnel strategy. The funnel typically begins with awareness campaigns that introduce the brand to potential customers in a compliant manner. This might involve high-level messaging focusing on lifestyle or wellness, avoiding directly mentioning the regulated product.

From there, the funnel moves into consideration, where more targeted content is used to engage audiences who have shown interest. This is where we start introducing more product-specific messaging, albeit still within the confines of what’s allowed. For example, instead of saying “Cannabis that cures,” we might focus on “Plant-based solutions.”

The final stage of the funnel is conversion, where landing pages play a critical role. Designing these pages requires deeply understanding user behavior and conversion rate optimization (CRO). We ensure that the landing pages are visually appealing and strategically structured to lead the user toward a purchase. This includes displaying unique selling propositions (USPs), incorporating testimonials and social proof, and ensuring that calls to action (CTAs) are clear and compelling—all placed above the fold for maximum impact.

Scaling Campaigns with Precision

Once the funnel is built and the initial campaigns are launched, the next challenge is scaling. In regulated industries, scaling is particularly tricky because of the limitations imposed by advertising platforms. This is where continuous testing and optimization come into play. We start with a broad range of creative assets—static ads, videos, user-generated content (UGC), and more—and rigorously test them across different audiences and placements.

Our approach to scaling involves analyzing performance data in real time and making quick adjustments to the campaigns. For instance, if a particular ad format performs well on Instagram Stories but not on Facebook Feeds, we’ll reallocate the budget accordingly. This iterative testing, learning, and optimizing process allows us to scale successful campaigns while minimizing waste.

Building for Long-Term Success

One of the critical lessons I’ve learned in this industry is that success isn’t just about quick wins; it’s about building for the long term. This means continuously refining the funnel, updating the creative assets, and staying on top of regulatory changes. It also involves maintaining a close relationship with platform partners to ensure we’re always compliant and ready to adapt to new rules or challenges.

In addition to paid advertising, we invest heavily in building out other marketing channels like email, content marketing, and SEO. These channels provide a more stable foundation for growth, allowing us to maintain a steady stream of traffic and conversions even when paid campaigns face restrictions.

Conclusion

Working in regulated industries has been an enriching journey that has taught me the importance of adaptability, compliance, and strategic thinking. By building comprehensive, compliant funnels and scaling campaigns with precision, we’ve helped brands survive and thrive in some of the most challenging markets.

As I look to the future, I’m excited about the opportunities. With the continued growth of these industries and the ever-evolving digital landscape, there’s no shortage of challenges to tackle and successes to achieve. And as always, I’m ready to dive in, test relentlessly, and scale confidently.