These 25 dermatology marketing ideas follow the specialty's calendar and its two service lines. Each one lists why it works, the effort and cost involved, and a compliance note, because in dermatology a good idea done carelessly (a gallery without consent, a free event with the wrong guests) can cost more than it earns. Pick three or four that match the patients you want this quarter, not all 25.
Skin cancer awareness and screening ideas
May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month. The AAD's campaign opens each year with Melanoma Monday, which fell on May 4, 2026 (opens in a new tab). Dates change, so verify each year. For a week-by-week plan, see our Skin Cancer Awareness Month guide. Patients search for this all year: "skin cancer screening near me" gets 3,600 searches a month and "full body skin exam" 720 (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026).
1. Host a free skin cancer check through the AAD
The AAD's Skin Cancer Check Program (opens in a new tab) gives members a planning platform, signage, flyers and news release templates. Its rules, as of October 2026: an AAD member must serve as check director and attend; well-trained PAs and NPs can screen under a dermatologist's direct supervision; and many checks run from May to August. The AAD estimates one dermatologist can check 6 to 10 people an hour, which tells you how many slots to offer.
Why it works: It is public health first, and it puts your providers in front of people who may not have a dermatologist.
Effort: High · Cost: Staff time; AAD materials are free to members · Compliance: See the note below this section.
2. Open a "skin check week" around Melanoma Monday
Hold extra full body skin exam slots in the first week of May, with a provider who has openings, and say so on your website and Google profiles.
Why it works: It meets the 720 monthly "full body skin exam" searches with real availability at the moment awareness peaks.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Schedule time · Compliance: These are ordinary billed visits; describe them accurately and don't call them free if they aren't.
3. Run a private skin check for a local employer
The AAD notes that private checks are usually held for one organization's employees, and that it promotes public checks but not private events.
Why it works: A single morning can reach many working-age adults at once, at their workplace.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Results go to each employee, never to the employer; don't share attendee lists or findings with the company.
4. Share the AAD's May social campaign
The AAD asks members to share its posts (opens in a new tab) during May and uses #PracticeSafeSun and #YourDermatologistKnows.
Why it works: Professionally produced, sourced content with no production cost.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Share the AAD's posts rather than downloading and republishing its graphics, which the site prohibits without permission.
5. Rewrite your skin check page in patients' words
Title the page with the phrases patients type ("skin cancer screening", "full body skin exam"), and explain what happens, how long it takes and how insurance works.
Why it works: The page then matches the 3,600 and 720 monthly searches above, and it keeps working after May.
Effort: Low · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Source any statistic to the AAD, MedlinePlus or CDC.
Compliance note on free screenings. Offering something free to patients covered by federal programs can raise two federal issues. The HHS Office of Inspector General explains that the Anti-Kickback Statute (opens in a new tab) prohibits the knowing and willful payment of "remuneration" to induce or reward referrals, and that remuneration includes anything of value.
Separately, the civil monetary penalty rule in 42 CFR 1003.1000 (opens in a new tab) covers offering remuneration to Medicare beneficiaries that is likely to influence them to choose a particular provider, and its definition of remuneration (opens in a new tab) includes free items or services, with specific exceptions. State laws may also apply, including to patients who are privately insured or uninsured. Design the event as screening and education, not as a funnel into paid visits.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how it applies to your practice with a qualified advisor, and confirm any free-screening plan with counsel.
Seasonal ideas for summer and winter
6. Teach sun safety in local schools
The AAD's Good Skin Knowledge (opens in a new tab) lesson plans are free to everyone and designed to teach young people the facts about common skin, hair and nail conditions.
Why it works: Parents hear about it, schools remember it, and it fits the specialty's public health role.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Provider time · Compliance: Keep it educational; no appointment offers or promotional handouts to children.
7. Back a school or nonprofit's shade structure grant
The AAD's Shade Structure Grant (opens in a new tab) awards up to $8,000 to public schools and 501(c)(3) nonprofits serving children 18 and under. Applicants need a letter from an AAD member dermatologist and a sun-safety program in place for at least a year. The current window runs October 19 to December 18, 2026.
Why it works: Your letter can help put permanent shade over a local playground, and the installation is a natural local news story.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Don't attach conditions or promotional obligations to your letter.
8. Run a summer sun-safety series
Short posts and a website article built on the CDC's prevention guidance (opens in a new tab): shade, protective clothing, wide-brimmed hats, sunglasses, broad-spectrum sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher, and no indoor tanning.
Why it works: Timely, shareable and sourced; it reminds people you exist before their next skin concern.
Effort: Low · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Quote the CDC accurately; no product endorsements without disclosure.
9. Publish back-to-school acne content in August
A plain-language acne page and a short series on when to see a dermatologist, written for parents and teens.
Why it works: It reaches parents and teens at a natural planning moment, with content that stays useful all year.
Effort: Low · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Educate rather than diagnose; prescription drug names in ads trigger platform rules.
10. Refresh eczema and dry-skin pages for winter
Update your eczema page before cold weather, citing MedlinePlus, which lists irritants, stress and allergens (opens in a new tab) among things that can make eczema worse.
Why it works: Seasonal content that answers questions patients are already asking.
Effort: Low · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Cite the source for every trigger or treatment claim.
Primary care and referral ideas
11. Give referring offices a one-page referral guide
What to send, how to send it, how fast you see urgent lesions, which insurance you take and which providers have openings.
Why it works: Busy primary care staff tend to send patients where referring is easy.
Effort: Low · Cost: Printing · Compliance: Use your normal secure channels for patient information; the guide itself contains none.
12. Close the loop on every referral
Send the consult note back promptly, with your findings and plan.
Why it works: Referring physicians notice who reports back. It is the cheapest referral marketing there is.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Send clinical information only to the treating clinicians, through secure channels.
13. Offer a short "when to refer" talk for local primary care teams
Twenty minutes on lesions that need a fast referral and what your practice can see quickly.
Why it works: It builds relationships with the people who send you medical patients.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Provider time · Compliance: OIG treats anything of value given to induce referrals as potential remuneration under the Anti-Kickback Statute. Keep any hospitality modest, document it, and check your plan with counsel.
14. Announce new provider capacity to referrers
When a PA or NP joins, tell referring offices which conditions they see and how soon.
Why it works: It turns a referral bottleneck into a selling point.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: State credentials accurately, including who supervises.
Cosmetic launch and event ideas
15. Launch a new device with a consult open house
Demonstrations, provider Q&A and booked consults for a new laser or treatment.
Why it works: A launch gives people a reason to visit now.
Effort: High · Cost: Event costs · Compliance: Keep giveaways modest, and don't promote prescription drug brands in Meta event ads.
16. Introduce your injectors on video
A one-minute "meet the injector" for each provider who performs cosmetic treatments, with credentials and approach.
Why it works: Who holds the needle is the thing med spas can't match a dermatology practice on.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Low · Compliance: Describe credentials precisely; FAAD applies only to board-certified dermatologists.
17. Build seasonal cosmetic packages with clear prices
Pre-holiday or pre-summer packages, priced on the page, with what's included.
Why it works: Packages give cosmetic patients a reason to commit and a number to compare.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Results claims need evidence; don't promise specific outcomes.
18. Put a cosmetic menu in front of existing patients
A printed menu at checkout and a cosmetic section in your newsletter.
Why it works: Your medical patients already trust you. HIPAA's marketing definition (opens in a new tab) excludes communications describing your own health-related services when no third party pays you to send them.
Effort: Low · Cost: Printing · Compliance: If a manufacturer funds the mailing, patient authorization is required. Email and text rules apply separately. More in our guide to cosmetic dermatology marketing.
Website, Google listing and review ideas
19. Give every public-facing provider a Business Profile
Google's guidelines (opens in a new tab) allow a practitioner profile for providers who are public-facing and reachable at the verified location, separate from the practice's profile.
Why it works: Patients search for providers by name, and each profile can carry its own reviews.
Effort: Medium · Cost: None · Compliance: The profile name holds only the practitioner's name, with no keywords.
20. Show accepting-new-patients status everywhere
On each provider page, your Google profiles and insurer directories. "Dermatologist accepting new patients" gets 210 searches a month (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026).
Why it works: For a medical patient, availability is often the first question.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Keep it current; stale availability frustrates patients.
21. Ask every patient for a review, the same way
A card at checkout or a link on the visit summary, offered to everyone.
Why it works: Steady, recent reviews give prospective patients current evidence about your practice.
Effort: Low · Cost: None · Compliance: Never confirm someone is a patient in a reply. If staff or family post reviews, the FTC's endorsement guidance (opens in a new tab) expects the relationship to be disclosed.
22. Add a consented before-and-after gallery
One gallery per treatment, with matching angles and lighting.
Why it works: The most persuasive evidence a cosmetic page can show.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Staff time · Compliance: Each image needs a written authorization under 45 CFR 164.508 (opens in a new tab) naming the marketing use.
Paid ideas
23. Run a skin check campaign only when a provider has openings
A Google Ads campaign on "full body skin exam" and "skin cancer screening near me", sent to that provider's page and paused when the schedule fills.
Why it works: You pay only when you can deliver. Clicks on "full body skin exam" average $4.86 (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026).
Effort: Medium · Cost: Ad budget you set · Compliance: No remarketing to people who visited condition pages.
24. Promote cosmetic treatments to adults on Meta
Static ads built from authorized photos and treatment pages.
Why it works: Meta reaches people before they search.
Effort: Medium · Cost: Ad budget you set · Compliance: Meta's health and wellness policy (opens in a new tab) requires cosmetic procedure ads to target people 18 or older and bans statements attacking appearance.
25. Advertise your May screening event locally
A short local campaign announcing the date, place and how to register.
Why it works: Free public checks fill when people hear about them in time.
Effort: Low · Cost: Ad budget you set · Compliance: Follow the free-screening note above; on Google, don't block your own ads with "free" as a negative keyword.
Where Medfy fits. Medfy's role is narrow. Its free audit scores your website, SEO, Google listing, AI visibility, social presence and ads, and lists the five fixes that matter most, so you can find your top fixes before choosing ideas. Medfy doesn't run events or post to social media for you. For a broader framework, see our healthcare marketing strategies guide, our dermatology marketing overview, and dermatology social media for ideas 4 and 8.
Frequently asked questions
How do dermatologists get more patients?
Decide which patients you want first. For the medical schedule, make new-patient openings visible on your website and Google profiles, and give primary care offices an easy referral route. For cosmetic growth, publish treatment pages with prices and run campaigns to adults nearby. Seasonal moments help both: May skin cancer awareness, summer sun safety and winter dry-skin content give you reasons to reach out.
Are free skin cancer screenings good marketing?
They build goodwill and visibility, and the AAD's free Skin Cancer Check Program gives members structure and materials. Treat them as public health first: screen, educate and refer, without a sales pitch. Free services offered to Medicare or Medicaid beneficiaries can raise federal beneficiary-inducement and anti-kickback questions, and state laws may reach other patients, so confirm the setup with counsel before promoting the event.
What seasonal campaigns work for dermatology?
May anchors the year with Skin Cancer Awareness Month and Melanoma Monday. Summer suits sun-safety education and school or community outreach. Late summer brings back-to-school acne content. Fall and winter suit dry-skin and eczema content and pre-holiday cosmetic packages. Near year-end, remind insured patients that plans with calendar-year deductibles reset in January. Check the AAD's dates each year.