Last updated: October 2026
Most clinic advertising problems trace back to one of a small number of gaps — a claim that shouldn't have run, a credential that wasn't actually held, a Google policy nobody checked, or a Malaysian campaign copied unchanged into Singapore.
This hub indexes everything we've published on the compliance side of clinic marketing, organised by regulator and by platform, so you can find the specific answer instead of reading five scattered guides. For licensed private hospitals and healthcare groups, see the healthcare marketing page.
By regulator
- KKM & MDC (Malaysia, general): The KKM & MDC advertising guidelines every Malaysian clinic owner gets wrong — the core reference for what's restricted and why, covering aesthetic and dental together. Self-check against both rule sets directly: KKM Ad Checker (aesthetic) and MDC Ad Checker (dental).
- MDC (Malaysia, dental specifically): MDC Advertising Rules, Explained for Dental Practice Owners — the dental-specific detail with practical pass/fail examples.
- MMC Code of Professional Conduct (Malaysia, registered doctors): the Malaysian Medical Council publishes its Code of Professional Conduct on mmc.gov.my (opens in a new tab), and it is one of the documents a doctor’s practice promotion should be checked against. Read the mmc code of professional conduct itself rather than a summary. For hospitals and medical groups, our healthcare marketing page covers how department and doctor-profile content is written with it in mind, and the private hospital medical-tourism SEO case study shows the published result.
- MOH & SMC (Singapore): Marketing an Aesthetic Clinic in Singapore: The MOH-Compliant Playbook — why a Malaysian campaign doesn't transfer, and what the compliant version looks like with SGD benchmarks. The Singapore rules themselves are in our Singapore healthcare advertising rules guide (opens in a new tab).
- LCP credential (aesthetic practitioners): What the LCP Credential Means for Clinic Marketing — the practitioner-qualification layer that sits underneath every aesthetic ad claim. For the credential itself, see aesthetic practice credentialing in Malaysia.
- PDPA & DNC (Malaysia, lead follow-up): PDPA and Clinic Lead Data in Malaysia and DNC-safe follow-up for Singapore leads — consent and contact rules for what happens after the ad, not just the ad copy itself.
- HSA (Singapore, health products & therapeutic goods): where a clinic advertises a therapeutic product or device rather than a service, Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (opens in a new tab) — not MOH — is the relevant regulator. We haven't published a dedicated HSA explainer yet; check the primary source directly for product-advertising rules until we do.
More detail on By regulator
- AHPRA & TGA (Australia): cosmetic clinic advertising in Australia sits under AHPRA's cosmetic procedure advertising guidelines (National Law s133, strengthened 2 September 2025 to cover influencer testimonials, appearance-prediction tools and under-18 targeting) plus the TGA's ban on advertising prescription-only medicines to the public. Run new ad copy through the AHPRA & TGA Ad Checker before it goes live.
By platform
- Google Ads: Google Ads Healthcare Policy in Malaysia — certifications, restricted remarketing, and why clinic campaigns actually get suspended.
- Meta / Facebook / Instagram: KKM-Compliant Ad Copy for Aesthetic Clinics: 15 Real Rewrites — before/after copy examples for the platform where most clinic budget runs.
- TikTok: Advertising a Clinic on TikTok in Malaysia — what TikTok's own health/beauty restrictions add on top of KKM.
- XHS / RedNote: Can Clinics Market on Xiaohongshu? KKM/MDC Compliance on RedNote — where the platform's native content style creates extra compliance risk.
- AI search / GEO: How Malaysian Clinics Get Recommended by ChatGPT — why KKM-compliant content is also the most AI-citable content.
Annual reference & tools
- Aesthetic Clinic Advertising Rules 2026 — the current-year refresh of the full ruleset in one place, updated annually.
- KKM Ad Checker — free self-check tool: paste your ad copy, get flagged against common restrictions before you publish.
- How to Check KKM/MDC Ad Compliance — the step-by-step workflow behind the checker, for anyone who wants the reasoning, not just the tool.
- How to Choose a Clinic Marketing Agency — evaluation criteria and real CPL benchmarks, useful whichever agency you end up hiring.
- AHPRA & TGA Ad Checker — free self-check tool for Australian cosmetic clinics: paste your ad copy, get flagged against AHPRA and TGA rules before you publish.
- NPRA Product Notification Check — how to confirm a MAL or cosmetic notification number on Quest3+ before a health-product campaign runs.
- PDPA Policy Generator — free tool to draft a baseline privacy notice for lead-capture forms.
- Advertising Regulation Tracker — a dated, sourced log of rule changes across every regulator this hub covers (KKM/MDC, MOH/SMC/SDC, AHPRA/TGA, PDPA/PDPC), updated as real changes are found rather than on a fixed schedule.
How to use this hub
Start with the regulator that governs your practice, then check the platform-specific guide for wherever you're actually spending budget — the two layers stack, and most real-world problems happen where they overlap (a claim that's borderline under KKM and also flagged by Google's healthcare policy, for instance).
Run new ad copy through the KKM Ad Checker before it goes live, and revisit the annual rules refresh at least once a year, since guidelines and platform policy both drift. If the content is written by or about a registered doctor, add the MMC Code of Professional Conduct to the regulator layer.
Does the doctor in your ad need the credential for the procedure shown?
Yes — and this is the one that catches clinics out, because it applies to endorsement as well as delivery. If a named doctor appears in an ad performing a procedure, or endorsing it, they need to hold the credential that procedure requires.
The LCP framework covers a specified set of aesthetic procedures, so a practitioner credentialed for one is not automatically covered for another. The same applies to the wording around them: copy that implies a procedure is doctor-performed when it is delegated is a claim about credentials, whether or not it names anyone.
Is a compliance check at launch enough?
No. Guidelines get updated and platform enforcement shifts, so an ad that cleared review a year ago can drift out of bounds without anyone touching it.
That matters most for evergreen creative and landing pages, which is exactly the material nobody revisits. Put the recurring ads and the pages behind them on a review schedule rather than treating clearance as a one-off at launch.
Want your creative reviewed before it runs?
Every account we run goes through compliance review before launch — see the clinic marketing programmes or book a call.