Point of Care (POC) marketing is one of the most powerful ways to reach and educate patients and providers, delivering highly contextualized information at defining moments during the delivery of care, when treatment decisions are being made. Positioned at the intersection of medicine and the patient journey, POC not only enhances patient and healthcare provider (HCP) experiences but also strengthens brand presence at critical points in care—guiding better outcomes and establishing a more enduring relationship with audiences.
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What is Point of Care Marketing
Point of Care marketing delivers targeted, educational content to patients, caregivers and HCPs at highly impactful moments within healthcare settings—such as exam rooms, waiting rooms, back-offices, pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, or digital care platforms. Anywhere a patient is receiving professional care. Beyond physicians, POC includes other influential healthcare providers—nurse practitioners, nurses, and pharmacists—whose roles in building patient confidence, supporting adherence, and providing essential education are often underappreciated but critical.
By providing timely, relevant information about treatment options, POC marketing empowers patients, caregivers and HCPs to navigate evolving medical information, enhancing discussions and supporting informed healthcare decisions. Ultimately, this approach aims to improve outcomes and adherence by fostering deeper understanding, supporting HCPs, and cultivating awareness through trusted environments.
The Definition of the POC is Evolving
Point of Care marketing is an established cornerstone of patient engagement, traditionally centered around in-office settings. These physical touchpoints allow healthcare brands to support patients and providers precisely when crucial treatment decisions are being considered. As healthcare delivery evolves, so does the reach of Point of Care.
Digital tools like patient portals, telehealth visits, and virtual care create new opportunities for engagement with both patients and providers—whether through real-time interactions or asynchronous communication.
Further expanding the area of opportunity, the rise of retail health and online platforms extends POC beyond clinical walls, reinforcing the need for responsibly delivered, regulated information that guides patients and providers to the most relevant medical insights, services, and treatments.
POC Reaches Across Locations, Throughout the Marketing Funnel
While ‘Point of Care’ may bring to mind a single location, it’s more accurately a network of interconnected experiences that shape the patient journey at every stage. Just as a tree is sustained by an intricate root system, the continuum of POC guides patients from initial awareness through treatment decisions and ongoing follow-up.
Traditionally seen as a powerful, last-moment conversion point, in actuality the POC extends throughout the healthcare journey—from the first point of awareness to follow-up. These digital and physical interactions offer valuable opportunities to reach patients with resources that they can share with caregivers, family, and even broader communities. Positioned in trusted spaces, POC touchpoints create a ripple effect of informed, supportive care.
For brands and healthcare providers, POC also offers powerful reciprocity by providing essential feedback on patient engagement. These insights, captured in EHRs or derived from data, empower HCPs and POC partners to engage more knowledgeably with patients—supporting those with specific conditions, predispositions, or other critical factors with tailored information and plans.
POC marketing can be delivered via digital and print tactics with awareness and educational messaging. For healthcare marketers, the expansive offerings provides boundless opportunities to meet audiences with trusted, compliant information, establishing a robust foundation for informed and proactive patient engagement at every stage of care.
Understanding the Value of Point of Care Marketing
The Marketing Mix: POC is a Powerful Compliment
Point of Care marketing serves as a powerful complement to larger marketing mixes and can also serve as an effective stand-alone channel for highly-targeted campaigns, such as those for rare diseases. Its unique role is often focused on providing mid-funnel and post-awareness content, helping to move messages through healthcare journeys at critical intersections that might otherwise be unreachable.
Importantly, POC is adaptive and can span the whole funnel. It can drive awareness at top-of-funnel in highly relevant contexts—such as osteoporosis campaigns in a women’s health office—or support adherence by reminding patients of Rx adherence importance and highlighting financial support options.
The integration of POC marketing with digital channels creates measurable impact—supporting marketing efforts across the patient lifecycle and campaigns aimed at everything from initial awareness to retention. In a recent case study, while 87% of the audience exposed only to digital ads generated 6% of the new patient starts, the 12% who encountered both digital and POC messaging accounted for 24% of the new patient starts. This means that patients were 200x more likely to convert when exposed to both channels versus digital alone in this case study (Veeva Crossix 2023).
For Patients: Stronger Understanding and Adherence
By delivering credible, regulated content that complements provider guidance, POC marketing strengthens patient understanding and supports adherence to treatment plans. The value of POC marketing extends across the healthcare ecosystem. It empowers patients with timely information, enhances provider-patient interactions, offers pharmaceutical companies and brands targeted outreach, and helps healthcare systems reduce costs.
Patient Education is Improved by POC Messaging
- Contextual Information Delivery: Delivers trusted, relevant information tailored to specific health concerns, presenting complex health details in a digestible format.
- Real-Time Engagement and Clarification: Enables patients to ask questions and address concerns in real-time during critical care moments. Can also facilitate immediate interaction with healthcare providers to clarify misunderstandings or fears. It’s Outcome: Enhanced patient confidence and reduced anxiety through timely information exchange.
- Patient-Centered Decision Making: Empowers patients to take an active role in their healthcare decisions and enables better articulation of goals and preferences, contributing to realistic, patient-centered treatment plans. It’s Outcome: Improved patient buy-in and more effective, personalized treatment approaches.
- Enhanced Patient Experience: Helps alleviate anxiety, answer questions, and set clear expectations for treatment and outcomes; Creates opportunities for meaningful patient-provider discussions, strengthening the therapeutic relationship. It’s Outcome: A more positive, engaging healthcare experience that encourages ongoing patient involvement.
Better informed patients are more likely to understand, participate in, and be better prepared to follow healthcare options and guidance, leading to more empowered experiences and stronger patient outcomes.
For Healthcare Providers: POC Supports Care and Diversifying Treatment Options
The benefits for patients also support healthcare providers; Point of Care is a critical tool for enhancing efficiency and supporting patient interactions and better outcomes. Providers show strong acceptance of POC materials, with 74% of physicians comfortable offering patients information from pharmaceutical brands when it enhances patient education (PatientPoint 2019). This openness highlights POC marketing’s ability to reinforce the trust patients have in healthcare providers, who are seen as authoritative sources of information.
Doctors are informed, empowered, and reinforced by POC
- Better Care Conversations: Serves as valuable tools for explaining complex medical concepts effectively and efficiently. It also supports visual learning and reinforces key health messages during consultations.
- Support for Shared Decision-Making: Enables more meaningful discussions about care options with better-informed patients and fosters a collaborative approach to healthcare, improving patient-provider relationships.
- Enriched Patient Interactions: Streamlines consultations by priming patients with relevant information and allows focus on in-depth discussions and personalized care.
- Comprehensive Treatment Support: Provides information on costs, affordability, and new treatment options; enables practical, informed treatment plans that patients can understand, access, and adhere to. It also offers post-visit support to reinforce care instructions and improve adherence.
By leveraging POC marketing materials, healthcare providers can enhance the quality and efficiency of patient care, leading to improved patient understanding, treatment adherence, and ultimately, better health outcomes.
For Healthcare Marketers, Brand Owners, and Health Organizations
For healthcare marketers, brand owners, and health organizations, POC marketing has emerged as a powerful strategy. By connecting with consumers at pivotal moments in their healthcare journey, POC marketing offers unique advantages that can drive tangible results. From targeted reach and improved ROI to trust-building and personalized engagement, the value proposition of strategic POC initiatives is clear – delivering impactful messaging that resonates when consumers are actively seeking healthcare information or services.
- Targeted Reach and Improved ROI: Reaches audiences when health is top-of-mind, increasing relevance and impact of messages.
- Trust-Building and Personal Touch: Builds credibility by providing valuable information in a healthcare setting; delivers relevant, personalized information that enhances understanding and outcomes.
Having explored the benefits of POC marketing for various stakeholders, the value of POC is evident. As we delve deeper, we’ll examine how POC marketing is adapting to the changes in healthcare delivery, creating new opportunities for engagement and impact.
Marketing Approaches in the POC
Point of Care communication is dynamically evolving beyond traditional approaches. While building on proven tactics like in-office print and digital wallboards, POC marketing’s growing value stems from two key developments: an expanding network of diverse care locations, and innovative technologies that enhance how (and what) health information reaches patients, providers, and caregivers at their most receptive moments.
POC Innovation: New Approaches to Positively Reach Healthcare Audiences
Here are 4 approaches that can impact healthcare audiences that can enhance how health information reaches these target audiences.
1. Message Customization
Whether curating content to reach specific specialists, or through data analytics and AI-assistance, the options to personalize content at the point of care are growing daily.
POC partners can help tailor POC content across their network. Beyond macro-data, like patient population density, POC tactics can focus on a wide variety of factors like patient demographics, health history and current conditions, provider specialty, and other data—all while remaining compliant.
This growing personalization is imperative. 71% of consumers have an expectation for personalization in their interactions (McKinsey 2021). POC marketing is uniquely positioned to meet this demand by delivering highly relevant, individualized messaging within trusted healthcare environments.
Through personalized content in both digital and physical POC channels, marketers can create patient-centered experiences that build deeper connections and foster engagement, aligning with the broader consumer shift toward more tailored interactions.
2. Integration with Health IT
POC marketing is increasingly integrated with health information technology (HIT) systems, to enhance relevancy and timing of content. HIT marketing can be fine-tuned to create highly impactful educational content that aligns precisely with health journeys. Some HIT examples include:
- Telemedicine or Virtual Care Platforms: Targeted messaging during virtual consultations can include reminders, educational content, or medication adherence prompts.
- Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSS): Reach healthcare providers looking at patient-specific information to deliver relevant product information or treatment options based on real-time patient data.
- Pharmacy Information Systems (PIS): Provide targeted messaging at the point of prescription filling, such as information on generic alternatives, patient assistance programs, or adherence support.
- Mobile Health Applications (mHealth): Deliver in-journey information while patients are tracking their health, medication reminders, or wellness programs.
- Wearable Health Technology: Enable POC messaging based on real-time data with wearables (like fitness trackers, smartwatches).
- Appointment Scheduling Systems: POC messages can be integrated into systems that manage appointment scheduling, sending patients reminders along with relevant health information or product suggestions.
3. Focus on Key Decision Points Throughout the Patient Journey
POC marketing encompasses the entire patient journey—wherever health management decisions are being made in a healthcare context. This includes virtual visits and other non-traditional care points, distinguishing it from broader In-Home marketing initiatives. By adapting to the distributed nature of modern healthcare, POC marketing influences decisions at multiple stages, ensuring patients have access to crucial information throughout their health experiences. This creates a more comprehensive and responsive system of patient engagement, aligned with today’s dynamic healthcare landscape.
4. Diversify Tactical Approach
To maximize effectiveness, leverage diverse Point of Care tactics that can cater to individual preferences and behaviors. A multifaceted approach ensures that messaging accompanies patients throughout their health journeys, from initial awareness to ongoing care, in modalities that are best suited to their specific needs.
Shared resources and digital records of what information and formats have been shared can assure patients get the right type and level of information suited to them from care teams and practitioners. Content tracking can help HCPs stay aligned and avoid gaps in patient care, even as patients move between providers, modes of contact, and care stages.
By embracing digital innovations and new in-person care tactics, POC marketing adapts to meet patients where they are, providing timely and relevant information at every stage of their healthcare experience. This flexibility allows for a more personalized and responsive approach to patient engagement, ultimately leading to better health outcomes and more satisfied patients.
Final Points
Point of Care marketing is a powerful channel for improving healthcare communication, patient engagement, and ultimately, health outcomes. POC marketing can transform healthcare experiences by delivering timely, relevant information to patients and providers.
Effectively integrate POC into Your Marketing
- Expand how you view POC to include all points of care
- Use POC to meet modern consumer demands for personalization in marketing
- Look at POC as a touchpoint across the marketing funnel from awareness to retention
- Look at the broader Health IT landscape
