Marketing a dermatology practice.

Who is the dermatology patient, and how do they find you?

The need

Skin checks, rashes, acne, eczema and psoriasis on the medical side; injectables, lasers and peels on the cosmetic side.

Urgency

Both urgent and planned

Payment

Insurance and self-pay

Who chooses

The patient and a referring physician both weigh in

The medical patient arrives one of two ways. A primary care physician sends them for a changing mole or a rash that will not clear, or they search on their own and pick from the dermatologists their plan covers. They care whether you take their insurance, how soon they can be seen, and whether reviews say the doctor listens. A long wait for a first visit loses them to whoever can see them sooner.

The cosmetic patient behaves like a shopper. They compare before-and-after photos, read reviews and look at several practices and a med spa or two before booking a consultation. They pay out of pocket, so price, the injector's experience and how results look decide it.

Both start the same way: a search on a phone that ends in a map listing. Very few people type the name of a marketing service; a great many type the doctor they need with the words near me.

Which listing and review sites matter for dermatology?

For medical dermatology the free profiles carry most of the weight, because insurance-led patients filter by plan and distance and then read reviews. For cosmetic work the paid placements and booking tools matter more, since that patient is comparing practices side by side.

• Google Business Profile Free

  The map listing that answers a near-me search. Keep hours, insurance notes and the booking link current, and reply to reviews without confirming that the reviewer is a patient.

• Healthgrades Free

  Insurance-led patients check training and plans here; claiming the profile lets you correct the plans and locations it shows.

• Zocdoc Per new patient

  Fee per new-patient booking; amount not published

  Fills open medical new-patient slots, since patients book by insurance plan. The fee attaches to each new-patient booking, so it suits a schedule with gaps, not a full one.

• Yelp Free, with paid options

  $150 a month and up, for Yelp Ads

  Cosmetic patients in many cities read Yelp before booking a consultation. The page is free; the ads are a separate decision.

• Castle Connolly Free, with paid options

  Inclusion free by selection; Enhanced Profile priced on request

  Inclusion comes by peer nomination and cannot be bought; if your physicians are listed, the recognition can appear in your own materials.

How each site charges is as recorded in the listing site directory, read on the site’s own pages; each name opens its full listing.

What do search ads cost a dermatology practice?

The dermatology click costs less than the healthcare average and converts far more often, because the person typing wants an appointment, not information. A cost per click of $4.90 (benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026) at a conversion rate of 25.33% (benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026) works out to $19.34 (worked out from the benchmark, LocaliQ, 2026) a lead before anyone books.

Spend it on the cosmetic side first. A filler or laser campaign pays the practice directly, while an insurance-billed visit earns a set fee and may only lengthen a waitlist. If medical new-patient visits are booked out, ads for skin checks buy calls the front desk cannot place.

Open the calculator on the Dermatology benchmark

Which channels fit a dermatology practice?

Three channels do most of the work. The map listing and its reviews bring in both kinds of patient for staff time alone. Search ads for named cosmetic treatments bring in self-pay consultations. A booking listing fills medical gaps when they open. Print, radio and broad social campaigns rarely beat these for a practice of ordinary size, because they reach people without a skin problem this month.

Questions to ask

• How long does a new medical patient wait today, and would more demand only lengthen the wait?
• Which cosmetic treatments bring patients back, and which are one-time visits?
• Who owns the photo consent forms, and where are they kept?
• Does the website quote the cosmetic price ranges a patient will be given in writing anyway?

Which rules apply to dermatology advertising?

Dermatology meets more advertising rules than most specialties because its marketing leans on patient photos, devices and self-pay prices. The first three rules below apply to every practice; the rest are the ones dermatology meets most.

State medical boards add their own advertising rules, and they vary by state; the state medical board index links each one.

What should a dermatology marketing budget look like?

Run the calculator twice, once per line. For cosmetic patients, enter what a first treatment brings in, how many treatments a patient has in a year and how many years they return; injectable patients come back on a schedule, so their value builds.

For medical patients, use the average collected per visit from your billing reports, not the charge, and count the follow-ups a skin cancer or psoriasis patient needs. If the medical schedule is full, set that budget near nothing.