Dermatology practices are really two businesses sharing a waiting room. The medical side runs on referrals, insurance and clinical need, and its marketing job is mostly to be findable and trusted. The cosmetic side is a discretionary, cash-pay purchase that competes with med spas, injectors and national chains, and its marketing job is much closer to consumer retail. Very few agencies are honest about how different these are, and a plan built for one will underperform badly for the other. This guide covers what actually drives new patients on each side, what moves the price of a retainer, and the advertising rules that decide what you are allowed to claim.
The medical side and the cosmetic side are different jobs
Medical dermatology demand arrives through three doors: referring physicians, insurance directories, and search by people with a symptom or a condition name. Marketing there is about being present and credible at each door, which means accurate insurance and location information everywhere it appears, condition pages written at a level a worried patient can read, and a referral relationship programme that is genuinely relationship work rather than a mailer. Cosmetic dermatology is a shopping decision. Patients compare providers, prices, technology and results across several practices, often starting on social platforms and finishing on search. That side needs treatment and price pages, real before-and-after evidence where you may lawfully show it, review volume that matches your competitors, and a consultation booking path that is fast. A single retainer can cover both, but the plan and the reporting must separate them or the cheaper medical enquiries will flatter the numbers while the cosmetic pipeline stalls.
What actually brings patients in
For most practices the ranked list is unglamorous. The Google Business Profile comes first, for each location, with correct categories, complete service lists, current photographs and a steady flow of reviews, because it is where nearly all nearby searching ends. Second is a page for every condition and every treatment you actually offer, written specifically rather than pulled from a content library that a hundred other practices also license, since duplicate clinical boilerplate ranks poorly and reads worse. Third is reviews, which for cosmetic work function as the whole shortlist. Fourth, for the cosmetic side, is paid search and paid social, because the highest-value treatments are actively shopped and the auction is where the shopping happens. Aesthetic and dermatology clicks sit among the more expensive local categories in published search advertising benchmarks, so the case for paid rests on treatment value rather than on cheap traffic.
What moves the price of a retainer
Location count is the largest multiplier, since each site needs its own profile, its own pages and its own reviews. The treatment and condition list is next, because every service you want found needs a page written by someone who can handle clinical language responsibly. Whether photography and video are included matters enormously on the cosmetic side and is the first thing cut to hit a price, usually to the practice's cost. Compliance review adds real time if every page and ad has to pass a physician, and an honest agency prices that in rather than discovering it later. Managed advertising is billed separately, either flat or as a share of spend. Practices that share a building or ownership with other local businesses sometimes buy this inside a broader marketing engagement, which is fine as long as the reporting keeps the medical and cosmetic lines apart.
The rules that decide what you may claim
Three sets of obligations bear on dermatology marketing and generalist agencies routinely miss them. Health claims must be truthful and substantiated, and federal guidance on health-related advertising is explicit that the level of proof required rises with the strength of the claim. Testimonials and endorsements must reflect genuine experience, material connections must be disclosed, and a result presented as typical must actually be typical. Before-and-after imagery has its own hazards: unretouched, consistent lighting, same angle, real patients, documented consent, and no implication of outcomes the average patient will not get. On top of the federal rules sit state medical board advertising rules and the practical requirement to handle patient information lawfully in any testimonial, review response or advertisement. Ask any candidate agency who reviews claims and what happens if a board objects. An agency that has done this work will answer immediately.
Questions people ask about dermatology marketing
Should medical and cosmetic marketing share a website?
Usually yes, with clearly separated sections, because the practice is one brand and the medical side lends credibility to the cosmetic side. What must be separated is the strategy and the reporting: different pages, different keywords, different advertising, and enquiry counts split by side so a rise in cheap medical enquiries cannot disguise a stalled cosmetic pipeline.
Can we show before-and-after photographs?
Generally yes with documented patient consent, but the presentation is regulated in substance. Images should be unretouched and consistent in angle and lighting, they should represent results a typical patient could expect, and any qualifying context should be visible with the image rather than buried. State medical boards add their own requirements, so have a clinician approve the set.
How much should a practice spend?
Start from capacity and treatment value rather than a percentage of revenue. Work out how many cosmetic consultations a month you can genuinely see, what one converted patient is worth, and what share of that you will pay to acquire one. Multi-location practices should budget per location, because the profile and review work does not consolidate.
Is social media worth it for dermatology?
For the cosmetic side it is often where the shortlist forms, so yes, provided the content is your own work rather than stock imagery. For the medical side it is a credibility layer, not a patient acquisition channel, and it should not consume budget that condition pages and profile work would use better.