Dermatologists are some of the most in-demand practitioners, as millions of people suffer from skin disorders, skin cancer, and seek preventative and anti-aging treatments. The US is the largest market for the dermatology industry and the industry is projected to be worth  over 10 million dollars by 2028. As a result, the dermatology industry is highly competitive.

So, how do you stand out from your competition and ensure potential patients choose your practice? A targeted dermatology marketing strategy is crucial to driving patient acquisition for your practice. If your competition is utilizing strategic marketing and your dermatology practice is not, you are missing out on the opportunities and patients a well-crafted marketing campaign could be generating for your business.

Want to see your dermatology practice reach its potential? In this guide we will give you advice on how to develop a targeted marketing plan that incorporates SEO, paid search campaigns, social media, and email and text marketing.

The best place to start your marketing efforts is within your practice, as this is the foundation that will help drive success for all of your other marketing channels. Before developing a dermatologist marketing plan there are several questions you should consider so that you can establish and execute your marketing efforts effectively:

‍Treatments: Do you have a certain treatment or service that your practice provides that you want to focus on? Treatments such as Mohs surgery, acne treatment, and specific skin condition treatments are in high demand, so it is important to know what you want your practice to specialize in and who you want to market to. Also, it is worth considering if you want to introduce more treatments into your practice and how you will integrate these, such as adding aesthetic services. Pinpointing the treatments that you most want to highlight and market is an important first step in getting the marketing results your practice needs.
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‍Strategic Growth: Do you want to see your practice remain where it is or do you want to see a steady increase in patient acquisition? Whether you are a new practice or looking to expand your current practice, it is important to evaluate the patient volume your practice needs and can handle. From there, you will need to regularly update and execute a marketing plan for your practice. Many dermatologists also wish to expand by opening a second practice or integrating a medical group. These are all factors that should influence your marketing plan (which needs to be regularly updated and evaluated).

‍Evaluate Your Competition: Depending on your location and the demographic of potential dermatology patients in your area, dermatology services can be in extremely high demand and therefore, competitive. It is important that you are familiar with your local competition and their marketing efforts before developing your own. Being aware of your competition allows you to create a more strategic and targeted campaign that utilizes the best channels for driving patient acquisition.

All of your marketing efforts begin with patient satisfaction within your own practice. If you already have an established practice, chances are that you have a loyal clientele. This clientele can be extremely beneficial in helping you build your brand and online reputation, which leads to increased patient acquisition.

Happy patients lead to good reviews on major websites like Google, Yelp, or leading healthcare websites like Vitals or WebMD. Reviews are an important part in the patient journey as they choose a provider, as one study notes that 35% of patients chose their provider based on good online reviews and 37% chose not to go to a provider based on bad reviews. Your practice can be proactive with its reputation management by asking for and incentivizing reviews from your loyal base.

Most importantly, the best patients are the ones who keep coming back. Patient retention is equally as important as patient acquisition and can be ensured through the use of several of your marketing channels.

One of the first place potential patients go when looking for a provider is Google. So it is crucial that your practice is ranking high on the search engine for your main treatments, as patients are more likely to look at providers in the top results. Often just a few SEO best practices can go far in helping your website's ranking move up the results ranking.

So what components lead to a well ranking website? Your website design should have individual pages that detail the background of your practice, your staff, and, most importantly, your treatments. It is important that your website has individual pages that optimize for treatment-centric keywords. For example, if your practice focuses on Mohs surgery and you are in the Miami area you will want to have a page that optimizes for “Mohs surgery Miami”. Furthermore, each of the keyword-optimized treatment pages should give comprehensive information that answers frequently-asked patient questions.

Another great tool to help increase Google rankings and site engagement is the integration of a blog. A blog can help you rank better for high volume keywords and can be a great channel to provide your patients with supplemental information about your treatments and skin care topics.

Whether you have a newly opened practice or need to see new patient acquisition immediately, a PPC campaign will give your practice immediate visibility and will allow for you to get calls and bookings from new patients right away.

By using platforms like Google Ads, you can ensure that your practice will attain maximum and immediate visibility to the target markets that you want.
When done effectively, paid search can be a channel that drives the most traffic to your practice. By choosing the right keywords, you can bring in the patients you want to help propel the growth you want for your practice.

More and more patients are turning to social media before they choose a provider. With so many people utilizing popular social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, social media gives your dermatology practice the perfect channel to increase your visibility and voice to a wide audience.

Use social media marketing to deliver informational content to both current and prospective patients. Great content will set you apart as an expert and leader in your field. Most importantly, engage with your following by responding to comments, questions, and mentions your account receives.

Email and text marketing are two great channels to interact directly with your patients and ensure patient retention.

By sending out periodic emails or texts you can stay at the forefront of patient’s minds and remind them about potential treatments or evaluations they may need or want based on their last visit, such as a skin cancer screening.

A well-written email needs to be both visually appealing on mobile and desktop devices. Email marketing campaigns can be a great way to give patient’s information about routine checkups, new treatments you are offering, and information on the services you already provide.
Similarly,  automated and targeted text marketing can be a great way to remind a patient about appointments, inform them about specials or events your practice is having, and keep your practice relevant to a patient.

To see your practice increase patient acquisition and retention, a well-formed dermatology marketing plan is crucial to success. By integrating a strategy that utilizes your current clientele, online channels, social media, and text and email marketing, you can ensure that your practice succeeds.

Don’t know where to start? Med Aesthetics Group is here to help! At Med Aesthetics Group we are experts in dermatology marketing strategies and have launched numerous campaigns for dermatologists that have helped practices reach their potential. To learn more about our marketing agency services and how we can help your practice be at its best give us a call or book a free demo today!