Industries
Industries we already know.
Marketing does not change much between industries. What changes is what you are allowed to say, how long the decision takes, and what somebody is looking at in the thirty seconds before they call.
Which industries does VIS Mountain work with?
VIS Mountain works across five broad groups: healthcare practices, law firms, home services and skilled trades, e-commerce and retail, and professional and B2B firms. Healthcare is the deepest specialism, covering dental, med spa, urgent care, primary care, dermatology, physical therapy and pediatrics among others.
Each industry page covers what is genuinely different about marketing that category, including the advertising rules that apply to regulated fields, rather than the same advice with a different job title applied to it.
Start with the constraint, not the channel.
The useful question is not which channel works for your industry. It is what makes your industry hard, because that is what decides which channel is worth funding first.
Four constraints do most of the work. How urgent the need is, which decides whether somebody compares three options or calls the first one that answers. How long the decision takes, which decides whether content has time to influence it. What you are legally allowed to claim, which in regulated categories rules out most of what generic marketing advice suggests. And what the money is worth, which decides how much a customer can cost before the arithmetic stops working.
Read the full breakdown: Start with the constraint, not the channel.Hide the full breakdown: Start with the constraint, not the channel.
An urgent care and an orthodontist are both healthcare. One is competing on proximity and how fast the phone is answered, the other on a decision a family will take three months to make. They share a compliance framework and almost nothing else operationally.
So each page below starts from the constraint rather than from a service list. If yours is not here, it does not mean we cannot help, only that we have not written the page yet. Tell us the category on the call and we will tell you honestly whether we know it well enough to be useful.
Healthcare.
The deepest specialism here, and the one with the most constraints. Patient acquisition happens under advertising rules, privacy obligations and claim limits that most categories never encounter, and the practices that win locally are usually the ones whose profile, reviews and booking path are handled properly rather than the ones with the biggest budget.
Healthcare Marketing
Patient acquisition under advertising rules that most industries never have to think about.
See the industry pageDental Marketing
New patient flow, case acceptance and competing with corporate groups on the same street.
See the industry pageCosmetic Dentistry Marketing
High consideration cases where the decision takes months and the photos do the selling.
See the industry pageOrthodontics Marketing
Two audiences at once: the parent who pays and the teenager who has to wear it.
See the industry pageMed Spa Marketing
Injectables and devices, where what you may legally say is the hardest part of the brief.
See the industry pageDermatology Marketing
Medical and cosmetic demand in one practice, searched for in completely different language.
See the industry pagePlastic Surgery Marketing
Long research cycles, surgeon-led trust, and strict limits on outcome claims.
See the industry pageUrgent Care Marketing
Same-day intent, where the map pack and wait time matter more than anything you publish.
See the industry pageChiropractic Marketing
Recurring care built on local reputation and the first appointment being easy to book.
See the industry pagePhysical Therapy Marketing
Referral relationships plus direct access patients who never see a physician first.
See the industry pageMental Health Marketing
Sensitive search behaviour, privacy expectations and insurance questions up front.
See the industry pageAddiction & Rehab Marketing
A category with its own Google certification requirement and heavy ad restrictions.
See the industry pageOptometry Marketing
Routine exams and optical retail in the same business, with very different economics.
See the industry pageOB-GYN Marketing
Long patient relationships that begin with one highly personal search.
See the industry pageVeterinary Marketing
Emergency and routine demand together, with owners choosing on proximity and reviews.
See the industry pagePharmacy & Labs Marketing
Compliance-heavy categories where accuracy beats persuasion every time.
See the industry pageLegal.
The most expensive local keywords in the country sit in this group, which makes lead quality far more important than lead volume. State bar advertising rules constrain what a firm may claim, and the difference between a firm that grows and one that spends is almost always intake speed rather than traffic.
Legal Marketing
Advertising rules from the state bar, and a market where everyone bids on the same terms.
See the industry pagePersonal Injury Marketing
Signed cases, not leads. The most expensive local keywords in the country.
See the industry pageCar Accident Marketing
Immediate, high-urgency intent competing against billboard and television spend.
See the industry pageTruck Accident Marketing
Lower volume, far higher case value, and a very different research path.
See the industry pageMedical Malpractice Marketing
Long qualification cycles where most enquiries are not viable cases.
See the industry pageWrongful Death Marketing
A category that demands restraint in every word of the advertising.
See the industry pageWorkers' Comp Marketing
Claimants searching while still employed, often quietly and on a phone.
See the industry pageMass Tort Marketing
Campaign-shaped demand that appears and disappears with the litigation.
See the industry pageCriminal Defense Marketing
Urgent, often overnight searches where availability decides the call.
See the industry pageDUI / DWI Marketing
A narrow window between the arrest and the decision, measured in days.
See the industry pageFamily Law Marketing
Emotionally loaded searches where tone in the ad copy does most of the work.
See the industry pageDivorce Marketing
Private research, long consideration, and a heavy reliance on reviews.
See the industry pageEstate Planning Marketing
Planning-stage demand that responds to education rather than urgency.
See the industry pageBankruptcy Marketing
Financial distress searches where trust and clarity beat every other lever.
See the industry pageImmigration Marketing
Multilingual demand, and status-specific questions that need precise answers.
See the industry pageEmployment Law Marketing
Claimant and employer sides needing entirely separate messaging.
See the industry pageHome Services.
Proximity, availability and reviews decide most of these categories, in roughly that order. Demand is often urgent, frequently seasonal, and split between emergency calls that go to whoever answers first and planned work that is researched for weeks.
Home & Local Services Marketing
Proximity, availability and reviews, in roughly that order, for every trade.
See the industry pageSkilled Trades & Contractors Marketing
Licensed work where proving you are insured is half the conversion.
See the industry pageRoofing Marketing
Storm-driven demand spikes and transient competitors bidding the market up.
See the industry pageHVAC Marketing
Two seasonal peaks, plus maintenance plans that smooth the months between them.
See the industry pagePlumbing Marketing
Emergency calls that go to whoever answers, and planned work that does not.
See the industry pageElectrical Marketing
Safety-led decisions where licence verification matters more than design.
See the industry pageRemodeling Marketing
Long consideration, visual proof, and a quote process that loses people.
See the industry pageKitchen & Bath Remodel Marketing
The highest-value remodel searches, with the longest decision cycles.
See the industry pageGeneral Contracting Marketing
Project-based demand where the portfolio is the entire argument.
See the industry pageFlooring Marketing
Showroom visits driven by search, with material choice made before contact.
See the industry pagePainting Marketing
High volume, low ticket, and margins that live or die on scheduling density.
See the industry pageLandscaping Marketing
Seasonal design work alongside recurring maintenance contracts.
See the industry pageConcrete & Masonry Marketing
Durable, high-ticket work sold largely on local reputation.
See the industry pagePaving Marketing
Commercial and residential demand that behave nothing like each other.
See the industry pageFencing Marketing
Property-boundary work with a short decision window once quoted.
See the industry pageDeck Builders Marketing
Spring-loaded demand and a build schedule that fills quickly.
See the industry pageSiding Marketing
Exterior work often triggered by damage, insurance or a sale.
See the industry pageWindows & Doors Marketing
Efficiency and rebate-driven demand with heavy price comparison.
See the industry pageGarage Doors Marketing
Repair urgency and replacement planning in the same set of searches.
See the industry pageFoundation Repair Marketing
Alarming symptoms, expensive fixes, and a strong need for reassurance.
See the industry pageWater Damage & Restoration Marketing
Round the clock emergency intent where answer speed is the business.
See the industry pagePest Control Marketing
Recurring contracts built from one urgent first call.
See the industry pageCleaning Marketing
Residential recurring work and commercial contracts on different cycles.
See the industry pageJunk Removal Marketing
Same-day demand decided almost entirely by the map pack.
See the industry pageSolar Marketing
Incentive-driven demand, long sales cycles and a trust-damaged category.
See the industry pageE-commerce.
The only group here where the transaction completes online, which changes everything downstream. Traffic is rarely the constraint. Category structure, page speed, product data and the checkout are where the money actually leaks.
E-commerce & Retail Marketing
Category and product pages that have to be findable and persuasive at once.
See the industry pageRetail Marketing
Local stock, local intent, and the gap between browsing online and walking in.
See the industry pageOnline Stores Marketing
Traffic is the easy half. The checkout is where the money leaks.
See the industry pageShopify Marketing
Theme, structure and speed decisions that quietly cap organic performance.
See the industry pageAmazon Marketing
A closed search engine with its own rules, alongside your own storefront.
See the industry pageDTC Brands Marketing
Paid acquisition economics that only work if retention works.
See the industry pageSubscription Marketing
Acquisition cost judged against lifetime value, not first order value.
See the industry pageMarketplace Marketing
Competing inside somebody else's platform and on the open web at once.
See the industry pageDigital Products Marketing
No shipping, no inventory, and nothing to see before buying.
See the industry pageProfessional.
Longer sales cycles, several people involved in the decision, and buyers who judge expertise by the quality of what you publish. Attribution is harder here than anywhere else, which makes measurement the first thing worth fixing.
Professional & B2B Marketing
Expertise-led buying where the proof is the content itself.
See the industry pageB2B Services Marketing
Longer cycles, several decision makers, and attribution that gets messy.
See the industry pageAccounting Marketing
Seasonal peaks around filing deadlines and year-round advisory demand.
See the industry pageFinance Marketing
A regulated category where claims are constrained and trust is everything.
See the industry pageInsurance Marketing
Comparison-heavy searches against carriers with national budgets.
See the industry pageConsulting Marketing
Selling judgement, which means the content has to demonstrate it.
See the industry pageCoaching Marketing
Personal brand and programme marketing in a crowded, claim-heavy category.
See the industry pageSaaS Marketing
Product-led demand, free trials and a funnel that lives in the product.
See the industry pageAgencies Marketing
Marketing the marketers, where every prospect can see your own work.
See the industry pageThe same click is not the same price.
LocalIQ publishes annual paid search benchmarks drawn from its own customers' Google and Microsoft Ads accounts. These are vendor figures rather than a market average, but the spread between categories is the point, and it is large.
SourceLocalIQ, Search Advertising Benchmarks 2026
A cost per lead is not a cost per customer, and converting one into the other silently is one of the most common ways marketing maths goes wrong. What these numbers are useful for is deciding how much organic visibility is worth building in your category, because the more expensive the click, the more the compounding work pays.
Two searches, two completely different jobs.
Somebody searching your business name has already decided. Somebody searching your category has not. Those two need different pages, different ads and different measurements, and the ratio between them is different in every industry.
Categories with urgent demand skew heavily towards category searches from people who have never heard of you. Categories with long consideration cycles produce a lot of brand searches late in the process, from people who found you weeks earlier and came back to check.
This matters commercially because brand searches are cheap and convert well, which makes any report that mixes the two look better than the underlying business is. Separating them is one of the first things we do on an account, and it frequently changes the conclusion about which channel is working.
Four things, and everything else is shared.
Useful when you are reading advice written for a different industry and trying to work out how much of it applies to yours.
| Item | Urgent categories | Considered categories |
|---|---|---|
| What wins the enquiry | Proximity and answering the phone | Proof, reviews and content |
| Where the budget goes first | Profile, map pack, paid search | Content, site, authority |
| How long attribution takes | Same day | Weeks to months |
| The most common leak | Nobody answers | No follow-up after the enquiry |
| What a slow site costs | The call, immediately | A place on the shortlist |
Both columns need the same underlying work. The order changes, and the order is most of the difference between a program that pays for itself in month two and one that pays for itself in month nine.
What you are allowed to say is part of the brief.
In healthcare, legal, financial and several other categories, the limiting factor on a campaign is frequently not budget or creative. It is what may lawfully be claimed, and who is allowed to claim it.
The FTC sets the truth in advertising standards that apply to every business, and its endorsement guides govern what may be done with testimonials, reviews and incentives. Since October 2024 there has also been a specific federal rule banning fake reviews, incentivised reviews conditioned on sentiment, undisclosed insider reviews and the suppression of negative ones. Health claims carry their own additional substantiation requirements, and lawyers are bound by their state bar's rules on communications about their services.
Read the full breakdown: What you are allowed to say is part of the brief.Hide the full breakdown: What you are allowed to say is part of the brief.
Practically, that means several tactics that circulate freely in marketing advice are off the table: before and after imagery without proper authorisation, outcome claims that cannot be substantiated, review gating that only asks happy customers, and incentives offered in exchange for a positive rating.
We treat this as part of the service rather than as something you discover afterwards. It is also, quietly, a competitive advantage: in a category where half the competitors are making claims they cannot support, being the practice whose marketing is defensible is worth more than another ad variation.
Not sure which of these you are?
Plenty of businesses sit across two. Book a call and we will work out where your demand actually comes from before recommending anything.
Straight answers.
What if my industry is not listed?
It means we have not written the page, not that we cannot help. The underlying work is the same in every category: be findable, be credible, make the next step obvious and measure what happened.
Tell us the category on the call and we will say honestly whether we know it well enough to be useful, or whether a specialist would serve you better.
Do you really understand my industry or is this a template?
Fair question, and the way to test it is to ask about the constraint rather than the channel. Ask what is different about advertising in your category, what you are not allowed to claim, and where enquiries typically leak.
An agency that has genuinely worked in your category will answer that in specifics. One that has not will answer in adjectives.
Which industries do you work with most?
Healthcare is the deepest specialism: dental, urgent care, med spa, primary care, ophthalmology, dermatology, physical therapy and pediatrics. Alongside that, personal injury and bankruptcy law, roofing, HVAC and plumbing, electrical, water damage restoration, and e-commerce.
Does marketing really differ that much between industries?
The mechanics barely differ. What differs is urgency, decision length, what you may legally claim and what a customer is worth, and those four between them decide the order of work and where the first dollar goes.
Anyone who tells you their industry is completely unlike every other is usually selling the specialism rather than describing it.
Will you work with two competing businesses in the same market?
No. Working both sides of the same local market for the same service is a conflict, and we will tell you if your category and area are already covered rather than taking the work and splitting our attention.
Do you handle multi-location groups?
Yes, and it is genuinely different work rather than the same work repeated. Each location needs its own profile, its own page and its own review stream, or the locations end up competing with each other for the same searches. Additional locations are $150 a month each, added to an existing bundle.
Where this comes from.
Primary documentation and published research behind the guidance on this page.
- FTC: Advertising and marketing basics for business (opens in a new tab)The truth-in-advertising standards every claim on a client site has to meet.
- FTC: The Endorsement Guides, what people are asking (opens in a new tab)What a business may and may not do with testimonials, reviews and incentives.
- FTC: Final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials (opens in a new tab)In force since 21 October 2024, and the reason review gating is not an option.
- LocalIQ: Search Advertising Benchmarks (opens in a new tab)Cost per click, click-through rate and cost per lead by industry, from one vendor's account data.
- Google Business Profile Help: Improve your local ranking on Google (opens in a new tab)Relevance, distance and prominence, described by the company that decides the ranking.
- Google Search Central: Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content (opens in a new tab)The self-assessment questions Google publishes for judging whether a page deserves to rank.
Talk to the team
A short call, a look at how the business currently shows up, and a straight answer on what we would do first.