POC advertising stands for point of care advertising, which is marketing content presented to patients in healthcare facilities where they receive care, family and friends that are visiting the patients, or the healthcare staff employed there at the facilities.
Point of Care advertising aims to customize ad space into effective marketing campaign pieces that are relevant to the healthcare industry and pharmaceutical companies to assist them with reaching more customers and generating more income in the long run.
It is not always easy for those in the healthcare industry to connect with medical patients that may be in need of their services because when someone is coping with injuries or illnesses, they may not even be the ones shopping for assistance.
The healthier loved ones may be responsible for seeking out solutions, and it can take research, reading, and many conversations to get pointed in the right direction.
When those conversations lead people to doctors’ offices and clinics, suddenly, there is an entire forum for point of care advertising that can open up opportunities to reach those that are already looking for what is being offered.
Let’s dig deeper in meeting medical patients where they are with the point of care advertising and ways to effectively use it.
Educational Content
When it comes to POC advertising, there is the beneficial aspect of being in a position to be informative and deliver educational content to patients when and where they need it the most, at the point of care.
It is a whole lot easier to convince someone that they need what you offer when they are already in the environment where treatment is taking place.
This makes a point of care advertising a form of communication that is applicable to both patients and healthcare providers alike.
This educational content could come across in many ways, such as waiting to see a doctor at his or her office.
Being that the individual already has time on their hands in the waiting room before their appointment is more receptive to being informed.
What is this information in the form of digital ads while you are browsing the internet or printed on a cover wrapped around the magazines that are already sitting in the waiting room for you to read?
High-Tech POC Advertising
The power of advertising at point-of-care locations makes it possible to educate consumers, build up more awareness, create doctor-patient conversations, and have an influence on purchase decisions.
Advertising at the point of care has gone way beyond pharmaceutical representatives selling samples of new drugs to healthcare practitioners. POC advertising has continued to expand with sophisticated integration of data and geotargeting and data.
Now, successful POC advertising communicates with doctors and patients alike through visually stimulating and highly targeted content that helps inform conversations and purchases.
Through effective messaging placed in doctors’ offices and waiting rooms, brands can reach patients when they have some downtime, are surrounded by limited distractions, and are looking for content that is not only useful but also engaging.
Benefits of Point of Care Advertising
According to the statistics that have been calculated by Mintel and Kantar Media:
- 42% of people think that there is too much content that can be overwhelming and difficult to follow.
- 82% have dealt with a health care provider at least twice in the last year.
- 4 out of 10 people reported remembering ads they saw in a doctor’s office.
- 90% of people consider their primary care provider as a valuable way to receive healthcare information.
- Most patients have stated that they find ads at the Point of Care useful and trustworthy.
- Over a third of patients say they trust pharmaceutical ads at the point of care.
- The majority of patients reported that POC advertising could better their relationship with their doctor.
Trustworthy Point of Care Advertising
Now with the understanding of why Point of Care advertising is crucial, we also have to come to an understanding as to how effectively POC advertising needs to be with consumers.
Point of Care content has to, by all means, be trustworthy, safe, and professional because anything below these core standards runs the risk of turning patients off and making them feel extremely uncomfortable at the Point of Care.
Serve a Purpose for Patients
We all know that marketing to consumers is a means to generate revenue, but it most definitely needs to serve a purpose for patients and doctors if it is nothing more than a mere sales pitch that it is lacking value.
Customized and Curated
When it is all said and done, POC ads need to be highly curated, customized, and targeted to the customer’s needs.
For instance, specific advertisements that have to do with a particular ailment need to be targeted to specialist clinics that actually treat that condition.
More generalized health advertising is more applicable in medical settings such as family practices.
