There is no fixed price for dermatology marketing in Australia — cost depends on whether a practice needs medical dermatology visibility, cosmetic patient acquisition, or both, how many locations are involved, and how much of the website and Google Business Profile already work. This guide sets out the real cost drivers and how to read a proposal sensibly.
What drives the cost
A handful of factors move the number more than anything else.
Scope split between medical and cosmetic. Medical dermatology (skin checks, eczema, psoriasis, acne) and cosmetic dermatology (injectables, laser, skin rejuvenation) attract different searchers, need different landing pages, and often run separate paid campaigns. A practice marketing both is effectively funding two acquisition strategies under one roof, which costs more than a single-focus clinic but also opens more revenue lines.
Channel mix. Search engine optimisation, Google Ads, website work and a review system are distinct workstreams. Paid media has two separate costs — the media spend paid to Google, and the fee for managing it — and any quote that blends the two into one figure is obscuring one of them.
Geography and competition. A single-site clinic in a regional centre competes with a handful of local providers. A multi-site cosmetic dermatology group in a capital city is competing against cosmetic clinics, medi-spas and other dermatologists in the same search results, which pushes paid search costs up and makes organic rankings slower to earn.
Starting condition. A slow, thin or outdated website means the first months of any engagement go into repair rather than growth. A practice with a healthy site and an active Google Business Profile starts further ahead and spends less to get moving.
Compliance overhead. Cosmetic dermatology advertising carries specific obligations under the 2023 cosmetic surgery and cosmetic procedure advertising guidelines and the National Law. Reviewing before-and-after imagery, offer wording and social content against these rules takes time that a generalist agency proposal often does not account for.
How to think about budget by practice type
- Medical-only dermatology practice. Prioritise local search: an accurate Google Business Profile, well-written condition and treatment pages, and a compliant review process. Paid search can start small, focused on skin check and referral-pathway queries.
- Mixed medical and cosmetic practice. Split budget across two tracks. The medical side builds long-term organic visibility; the cosmetic side typically needs paid search and social advertising because cosmetic decisions are often made faster and searched more competitively.
- Cosmetic-led or multi-site group. Budget needs to cover per-location profile management, campaign structures that separate medical from cosmetic intent, and a heavier compliance review load given the volume of imagery and offer copy typically involved.
A useful exercise before agreeing any number: work out what a new patient is worth across a typical treatment course, then decide what you can reasonably spend to acquire one. If that figure is not known, establishing it should come before any marketing spend.
What the first 90 days should look like
Expect the first quarter to be largely foundational. The Google Business Profile should be corrected and completed with accurate categories and services, medical and cosmetic landing pages should be separated and rewritten where needed, tracking should be installed so enquiries are properly attributed, and any paid campaigns should launch with a tight keyword list and negative keywords already in place to exclude irrelevant searches.
Leading indicators worth watching inside 90 days include profile views, call volume, impressions on relevant queries and a growing review count. Settled organic rankings usually take longer than a quarter in a competitive metropolitan market, so a proposal promising specific ranking positions by a fixed date deserves scrutiny.
How to judge an agency quote
- Separated media and management fees. You should see exactly what is paid to Google and what is paid to the agency.
- Named KPIs with dates. Enquiry volume, call volume and rankings on named queries are measurable; "improve visibility" is not.
- Ownership of assets. The website, ad accounts, analytics property and Google Business Profile should sit in the practice's name, not the agency's.
- Compliance literacy. A proposal for a dermatology practice that never mentions the cosmetic advertising guidelines, testimonials or before-and-after standards is a sign the agency has not worked in regulated healthcare marketing before.
Ask what happens if agreed numbers are missed. Our answer is a 90-day KPI guarantee with no lock-in contract, which puts some of the risk on the agency rather than leaving it entirely with the practice.
Where the money is usually wasted
The most common waste is paid traffic sent to a generic homepage rather than a treatment-specific landing page, which suppresses conversion rates and makes Google Ads look ineffective. The second is broad cosmetic keyword targeting that pays for browsers rather than people ready to book a consultation. The third is a Google Business Profile that was set up once, left untouched, and quietly overtaken by a more active competitor.
None of these are solved by spending more. They are structural problems that a larger budget only makes more expensive.
How reporting should reflect the spend
A dermatology marketing budget should come with reporting that shows where the money went and what it produced, broken down by medical and cosmetic service lines rather than blended into one figure. Enquiry volume, cost per enquiry, and booked-appointment rate are more useful numbers than impressions or clicks alone, because they connect spend to the outcome the practice actually cares about. Ask any prospective agency how frequently this reporting is delivered and whether it separates channels, since monthly reporting that lumps organic and paid results together makes it difficult to know which pound of spend is doing the work.
It is also worth asking how a proposed budget compares with what competitors in the same catchment are likely spending. This is not about matching a rival dollar for dollar — it is about understanding whether a modest budget in a highly contested metropolitan market is realistic, or whether it needs to be resized before the engagement starts, so expectations are set correctly from day one.
Getting an accurate number for your practice
The sound way to price this work is to audit the site, the profile, current rankings and competitor activity first, then quote against what actually needs doing. That is the starting point for our dermatologist marketing engagements, and the same approach applies across our broader medical SEO work. Before signing anything, run existing ad copy and website claims through the free AHPRA advertising compliance checker so you know what needs adjusting regardless of who does the work, and review the principles set out on our AHPRA-compliant marketing page.
If cosmetic advertising rules are the main uncertainty, read the advertising rules that apply to dermatology before briefing any agency, and use the Google Business Profile checklist for dermatology clinics to tighten the free asset the practice already owns.
