AAM Media Matters: POCMA’s Nicole Divinagracia on the Advertising Power of Point of Care Media

In the ever-evolving media landscape, healthcare marketers increasingly use point of care media to reach patients and healthcare providers at a critical point in their journey where care decisions are made.

For the latest edition of AAM Media Matters, Nicole Divinagracia, president of the Point of Care Marketing Association (POCMA), shared new data from POCMA’s 2024 Trends Report and why point of care media is an essential part of healthcare advertisers’ media mix.

Rapid and Significant Industry Growth

In an industry first, POCMA requested revenue from its members to capture POC media spending. Seventeen point of care media companies shared their revenue with a law firm that aggregated the data to provide total revenue.

Since this data doesn't capture the entire industry, the total POC spend is likely much higher. Even with this partial view, the trends are clear.

POCMA’s Trends Report found that between 2019-2023, healthcare marketers increased their media spend by 37% across all media channels with POC seeing significant revenue growth. “The POC channel almost tripled its size in five years, with an increase in revenue of 171%,” Divinagracia said.

Marketers have also increased POC’s share of the media mix. In 2019 POC represented about 4%, but it came closer to 8% last year.

While Divinagracia said multiple factors have contributed to the channel’s growth, POCMA’s Verification and Validation Guidance, which was first released in 2019, increased transparency and trust in the POC media marketplace.

“We're seeing some great growth in the point of care space. It’s testament to the success that brands are seeing within the channel.”

The Unique Strengths of POC Media

Divinagracia highlighted three advantages of POC media for healthcare marketers:

1. Precise Targeting: POC media enables marketers to target patients and healthcare providers by using demographic data and diagnosis and treatment information. This granular level of targeting ensures that healthcare-related messages reach the right audience.
2. A Trusted Environment: Healthcare settings are trusted environments, which translates to the messages shared in these channels. "Leveraging this trusted environment allows for a stronger connection to be made between the brand, patient and healthcare provider,” Divinagracia said.
3. Multiple Engagement Opportunities: POC also offers a diverse range of tactics to engage patients and providers. "Not every patient likes the same type of content in the same format. POC gives you that diversified approach to reach your target audience.”
   
   

POC's Role in the Media Mix

Adding POC media to marketers’ overall media mix helps reinforce messaging delivered through other media channels.

A new case study from Veeva Crossix showed that although POC represented 14% of the total media investment, it generated 35% of the new patient starts (the number of new patients who begin treatment with a specific drug or therapy).  

POC also amplified digital’s impact. If a patient saw a digital ad and a POC ad, they were 200x more likely to convert compared to just seeing a digital ad alone (without seeing a POC ad.)

"POC arms patients and prepares them for the conversations they’re about to have with their healthcare provider. It’s also about reaching healthcare providers and integrating those messages into their workflow,” Divinagracia said.

Best Practices for Advertisers

For advertisers considering POC media, Divinagracia offers four recommendations:

1. Diversify Media Partners: Engaging with multiple media partners helps increase reach, deliver a more diverse audience and improve campaign effectiveness.
2. Communicate Often: Collaboration between agencies, media partners and advertisers is crucial to align objectives, strategies and measurement techniques.
3. Understand Solutions: Advertisers must understand the products they are buying, how they are delivered at the point of care and what the message should be for each channel.
4. Tailored Messaging: Advertisers should tailor their messaging to resonate with their target audience rather than take a “one-size-fits-all” approach.

Divinagracia said as healthcare marketing evolves, POCMA will continue expanding its educational resources and tools.

“It’s important to ensure that healthcare marketers understand the impact and effectiveness of the channel and continue to offer resources to help them develop solutions for success,” Divinagracia said.