Right Place, Right Time: How Health Care and Wellness Companies Are Capitalizing on the Rapidly Growing Point of Care Communication Channel
ZS Associates Research Study on Point of Care
Executive Summary
By Hensley Evans, Aaron Mitchell, Jinan Martini and Pragati Anand
Point of care (POC) communications, a historically small piece of the consumer-facing communications mix for health and wellness vendors in the U.S.1 represents a growing opportunity for brands to reach patients and caregivers in settings where they are especially focused on their health and wellness: at the doctor’s office, pharmacy and hospital.
According to our new study2, changes in the health-care market, technological advances, consolidation among POC vendors, the emphasis on patient outcomes and the increasing importance of preventive care and patient adherence are driving the POC channel to become a more important part of integrated marketing strategies. Based on qualitative research, ZS estimates that consumer-focused POC marketing investment has grown 10% annually since 2010 — nearly eight times the growth of direct-to-consumer marketing spending overall — to reach $400 million this year. To succeed in POC, marketers need to design POC-specific strategies that consider the patient experience; select, create, and adapt content to the channel; track and measure its impact; and integrate POC messages with their overall DTC promotional and patient communication strategies.
- Health and wellness vendors are a group led by pharmaceutical manufacturers, but also include over-the-counter medicine companies, pharmacies, health plans, and consumer packaged goods companies selling health-oriented items.
- ZS Associates conducted research for this study sponsored in part by the Point of Care Communication Council (PoC3). This study reflects the independent findings of ZS. ZS, a global leader in sales and marketing consulting, outsourcing, technology and software, is not a member of PoC3. For the purposes of this study, we focused on consumer-facing point of care communications and have excluded communications focused primarily on health-care professionals.
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