Your Dermatologist Knows

Your Dermatologist Knows is the Academy’s successful and comprehensive consumer positioning strategy. The strategy’s singular focus is to position our members as the experts in skin, hair, and nails, and strengthen the already positive public perception of dermatologists. Your Dermatologist Knows revamped the AAD’s public relations efforts and was developed to address members’ concerns that the Academy needs to do more to increase public awareness of the unmatched expertise, training, and scope of care offered by dermatologists.

A 2021 survey of 2,000 Americans found three important things relevant to the development of this strategy:

• Current positioning for the specialty is strong: 7 in 10 members of the general public already see dermatologists as the experts in health care for skin, hair, and nails. This is good news! It means we’re starting from a position of strength, and as such, one of the major goals of Your Dermatologist Knows is to make sure that strength does not erode as other providers attempt to claim our expertise.

• Among younger demographics, dermatologists’ positioning remains strong but we’re also seeing an increased likelihood to have favorable views of non-physician clinicians. While this isn’t great news, the strategy was built to address it head-on. The survey provided insight into the particulars of the issue we are facing and allowed us to develop a strategy targeted directly at that issue.

• The public is interested in dermatologists’ knowledge and learning more, but messaging that outlines levels of training or involves direct comparison of dermatologists to non-physician clinicians is received rather poorly and could even cause an adverse reaction among those who see it. Messages that address consumers’ interests and capture their curiosity provide an opportunity to drive attention and highlight dermatologists as the experts.

• Addressing consumers’ enduring interest in health and wellness for their skin, hair, and nails, as well as their general curiosity about the specialty, by stressing that dermatologists are the leading experts and putting AAD personalities in the foreground.

• Reflecting a warm tone and human voice to speak to individuals’ personal concerns and showcase dermatologists as knowledgeable, caring experts seeking the absolute best outcomes for patients.

• Positioning AAD as the “convener” by providing a platform for individual dermatologist personalities to share expertise and tips relevant to consumers, while disseminating consistent messages about the specialty and its expertise.

• Encompassing the full scope of the specialty in all efforts.

The strategy has two main facets: social media and traditional media.

For the AAD’s social media efforts, we built upon our successes by transforming our social media platforms into a dynamic platform showcasing dermatologist personalities sharing their expertise.

This was accomplished with the help of the Social Media Correspondents, social-media-savvy AAD members who provide a consistent personality that the public can connect and relate to on our public-facing @AADskin1 Instagram channel. With the help of our social media staff, the correspondents develop content for our social media channels that highlights the expertise of board-certified dermatologists as the leading experts on skin, hair, and nail conditions. In addition, we collaborate with a number of AAD members who have significant social media followings to amplify our messages about the specialty and its expertise. We also be work with established dermatologist influencers as well as non-dermatologist influencers to share a patient perspective on the expert care received by a dermatologist.

Then, through a paid media campaign, the content reaches our target audience on a variety of social media channels, including Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, TikTok, and Snapchat.

For our traditional media efforts, our media relations teams continually pitches stories to media outlets across the country, usually in response to media trends or as part of various Awareness Month efforts. These stories feature quotes from members of the AAD’s Media Expert Team and allow the opportunity for dermatologists to directly address the issue and showcase their expertise to an audience of potentially millions of readers.

You should have noticed the Your Dermatologist Knows framing popping up in content on our website! We use it as often as we can in order to consistently and effectively drive home the message.

Correspondents were selected by a workgroup under the Council on Communications from a list of members who responded to a member-wide call for applications. The candidates were assessed and selected based on their knowledge of and passion for using social media to educate the public.

Our content will reach U.S. consumers broadly, but the social media strategy has an added emphasis on and investment in targeting women ages 25 – 35 who are beginning to take their health more seriously and who or are likely to become primary health care decision makers for their households.

The results of the public survey of 2,000 people showed that people aged 25 – 35 were more likely than other demographics to have a favorable view of non-physician clinicians (NPCs) and as such, may be more at risk to choose them as providers over a dermatologist. By targeting women in this demographic, who are likely to be or become the sole medical decision makers for their family, we believe we have given ourselves the best opportunity to assure that dermatologists’ strong positioning does not erode in the future.

During our research, we tested many different types of messaging. We found that comparisons actually went over very poorly with the general public, who felt they were condescending.

Messaging that addressed interest in skin health and piqued curiosity with the public to learn more resonated very positively with the general public, who prefer a more positive, upbeat explanation of the full scope of the dermatology specialty.

To put it plainly: Yes! A recent survey of the public shows a significant increase in public perception of dermatologists compared to non-physicians. Read about the strategy’s success.