The Ease of Marketing OTC Brands at the Point-of-Care
Though over-the-counter (OTC) marketing at the point-of-care (POC) is not a new concept, the idea of fully utilizing its potential remains unexplored for many brands. This unknown represents an opportunity for OTC brands to differentiate themselves from the competition. Previous OTC brands that have placed their marketing at the POC have a history of success with their campaigns. They have paved the way and provided a template on how to best reach targeted audiences for their products. Coupling this opportunity with the ease of execution makes marketing OTC at the POC an attractive option.
Brands should act swiftly on OTC POC marketing since we are at an inflection point. The OTC wave is coming and those who move first will most effectively establish a strong presence while the current competition is still minimal. By capitalizing on this opportunity, your brand marketing can stand out and lead the way in these untouched markets.
The purpose of this article is to fully communicate just how simple the process is to start and execute campaigns at the POC.
INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
The methodology at Targeted Media Health makes it straightforward for an OTC brand to market at the POC. We offer a multitude of opportunities for your brand to market at the POC including our condition guides, custom cover wraps, healthcare provider (HCP) marketing and digital solutions. When your brand works with us, it is direct, simple and without third-party disturbances or unnecessary actions.
For OTC brands to market at the POC, the first step is to identify the target audience. One unique trait of a POC space is that there are a multitude of locations from broad (e.g., primary care) to specific (e.g., dermatology). Understanding the needs and health journey of a brand’s consumers allows a brand to more effectively engage these targets. By focusing on the health and wellness spaces that best match consumer needs, OTC brands can achieve success in their overall business strategy.
Brands market in doctors’ offices and hospitals to reach physicians, nurses and patients alike. This reaches health care-minded consumers right at the source — where they are in the most relevant state of mind to think about their health and wellness. These brands can go even further by marketing only at select dermatologist offices or pediatrician hospitals. This way, a brand can further narrow its scope and ensure its messages reach the most relevant audiences.
What is often overlooked is how POC marketing can expand beyond the doctors’ offices and allow brands to find consumers in less orthodox POC settings. This is even more important for OTC brands, where their product can be relevant in a multitude of environments. This can include community centers, municipal buildings and places of worship. While POC settings are generally where an HCP and patient interact, at its core, the POC is anywhere a consumer feels safe and comfortable enough to ask for advice and make important health and wellness decisions. It is crucial for your OTC brand to understand the POC and take full advantage of the different opportunities.
Various communities engage with health information in different ways and locations. By understanding these POC settings, your brand can truly reach and support the most groups of people in a POC mindset. In these spaces, different groups may feel the most comfortable and receptive to health care and wellness messaging. Through the utilization of these diverse areas, your brand can engage with different demographics, expand product awareness and pivot business strategies in more unique and innovative ways.
EXECUTION PHASE
Once your brand identifies the target audience and POC location(s), it can then go forward with using the POC as a marketing channel. When implementing marketing strategies at the POC, your brand is not required to provide extensive resources. Most of the heavy lifting can be done by our own titles. Your brand simply needs an IO and specified targeted locations. By working with Targeted Media Health, you can take advantage of our expertise to fine-tune and optimize your provided information.
With our condition guides and cover wraps, we allow for flexibility on what the creative might look like. Your brand can provide a preliminary ad and we’ll ensure that it matches the specs we use for our magazines, or we can create the ad ourselves. Targeted Media Health works with The Foundry, Dotdash Meredith’s award-winning custom content studio. Our partnership with The Foundry allows for flexible and customized solutions for your specific needs and requirements.
Many OTC brands may not already have a POC marketing creative on hand for a multitude of reasons. Especially if a brand is new to POC, they may not know what is typical and how to proceed. Your brand can rest easy if you decide to utilize our creative solutions. During our partnership, we work to consider your brand’s target audience and message and provide helpful guidance and insights for marketing at the POC. Our marketing takes into account a mass of preferences — tailoring the ad to reflect specific images, wording or anything absolutely necessary that your brand feels needs to be represented. Your brand has complete influence over its representation and can relay its voice and identity at the POC.
Once your brand runs at the POC space, it truly owns it for the duration of the campaign. A brand has exclusivity in our condition guides. Our editorial and surrounding advertisements will not compete with your product or service, and instead provide content that will only elevate your brand. As a bonus, with OTC brands, everything that is used for print at these POC locations can also be used for the digital version of the condition guide. There are no additional fees or extra steps; we digitize the guides themselves. Your brand can enjoy the 360 marketing experience, reaching targeted audiences at the POC and beyond.
RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
The entire process of getting your brand to market at the POC is entirely seamless and catered to your specifications and preferences. While this is evident throughout the duration of a campaign, it also continues to yield ongoing benefits beyond your campaign’s run.
With each program, Targeted Media Health offers customizable qualitative surveys and feedback forms. This research can help you gather more specific information for your product and future strategies. Your brand can edit the surveys to include any questions you’d like to gain more insight into. Our qualitative research provides stories and direct feedback from the core source. This can help a brand understand its campaigns better and mold its ideas and strategies to handle a renewal or future strategies in all aspects of its business plan.
For example, if the OTC brand is a new product, the client may want to see how the brand ranks among competitors. Through these questions, the client can gain a better look inside its consumers’ heads. Coming directly from physicians who are experiencing the product and marketing first hand, brands can learn more about their consumers and how they are responding and engaging to the ads. This can produce valuable demographic information or evidence for new innovations.
Understanding how OTC marketing at the POC works is essential to get the most out of these marketing settings. While the process itself is easy and simple, the results of such strategies provide a great payout. Targeted Media Health provides a simple and easy way to fully utilize the untapped potential that is the point-of-care. Through condition guides, customized cover wraps and a multitude of other digital and print solutions, Targeted Media Health supports and elevates your brand to market at the POC. From before a campaign even runs to when you reap the benefits of a program, Targeted Media Health remains a steadfast and trustworthy partner. While OTC marketing at the POC is already quick and easy, when your brand works with Targeted Media Health, it can make the most of the space, by gaining the trust of targeted consumers.