Misinformation and fake news have become the most pervasive aspects of the digital world. They are passed on to internet-connected devices 24/7 via various social media apps and news websites. A non-clear or misinterpreted piece of information has the potential to cause massive havoc all over the world within a few minutes of getting published. Therefore, it has become important to pass on the right kind of information through trusted sources.
If internal or external communications in the healthcare industry are not created and distributed through the proper channels, they may be misinterpreted by the media and confuse the general public. Communicating news related to healthcare requires expertise to provide clarity. Rosica Communications is helping the healthcare industry to share communication in a simply and effectively manner with internal and external stakeholders, allowing them to give the right impressions.
Founded in 1980, Rosica Communications offers specialized services like content development, social media management, online reputation management, search engine optimization, digital marketing, and crisis communications to represent stakeholders in the right light.
We interviewed Chris Rosica, President of Rosica Communications, to get insights on his journey to make his agency a top-level health industry PR service provider.
Below are the excerpts from the interview:
Please brief our audience about your agency, its values, and the aspects that make it a leading player in the healthcare PR space.
Rosica Communications was established in 1980. Its values have always embodied creativity and resourcefulness. We serve as a thinking partner to our clients and deliver award-winning results. In fact, in Q4 of 2021, we won four PR industry awards, and we were named by Forbes as one of the “Best PR Agencies in America.”
The most gratifying part of the Forbes recognition was that the award was based on interviews with our clients. We feel honoured that they value our team, PR strategies, and outcomes and their satisfaction is paramount. Another value is truly caring about our clients’ success. We treat their goals and objectives as our own.
There are various types of healthcare PR and services that agencies offer. Rosica Communications focuses on media relations, thought leadership development, crisis communications, disease awareness and advocacy, content marketing, key opinion leader development, and supporting our client-partners’ lobbying efforts through strategic PR and communications.
Brief us about how you have set yourself apart from the competition through your expertise in healthcare PR and communication?
Since 1980, Rosica Communications has specialized in media relations. We are always looking towards the future, adapting and evolving. Over the years, we’ve added services, and today the agency offers a breadth of services.
In 2008, we started a digital marketing agency – long before healthcare PR firms were embracing digital. That agency is alive and well today and is called Interact Marketing. Interact serves numerous healthcare clients, primarily hospitals, large physician practices, reference laboratories, and medical device companies.
Another differentiator with Rosica is our ability to create and execute integrated marketing programs where public relations, content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, stakeholder communications, and conference marketing are combined to accelerate results. We develop high-quality content and repurpose and syndicate it to effectively impact stakeholder communications, image, and lead generation.
What other services does your agency offer, and how are you making an impact in the global healthcare industry?
Rosica’s integrated marketing communications services include thought leadership, corporate and brand positioning, marketing strategy, social media marketing, influencer marketing, media relations, crisis communication, KOL development, video strategies, content development and marketing, corporate communications, issues management, cause marketing, digital marketing (SEO and SEM), and website development.
Being an experienced leader, share with us your opinion on how the adoption of modern technologies and platforms within PR and communications has transformed the industry and what more could be expected in the near future?
Technology has been pivotal in healthcare PR. The internet has played a major role in taking PR and communications to the next level because we’re now truly able to integrate marketing, public relations, and communications – and measure its efficacy. There are many tools we’ve demoed and adopted.
With new tech, these platforms are only as good as the commitment an agency has to train its people in them. As it stands, most software offers far more benefits and capabilities than ever get utilized, but the basics are often misunderstood. It’s clear to me that you must not only have the courage to venture and try new things but the commitment to stick to it to become an expert.
What would be your advice to budding entrepreneurs who aspire to venture into the healthcare PR sector?
I believe that having a peer-to-peer network and finding mentors are essential. For entrepreneurs, I highly recommend joining a professional network. I have been involved with the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), Vistage, and others.
In the Entrepreneurs Organization, I had my own advisory board called a Forum group. We met monthly, and members, who did not compete with one another, regularly presented issues. It was strictly confidential, and we all received candid input – experience not so much advice – that helped me grow. All of the entrepreneurs were people outside of healthcare PR, but their parallel experiences were invaluable.
Where do you envision your agency to be in the long run, and what are your goals for 2022 and beyond?
We certainly want to be named to the Forbes list of the best PR agencies in America again in 2022. We also want to retain at least 95% of our clients this year, and we are on track to do that. We also want to grow by 20% in 2022, which we feel is a realistic and aggressive goal.
Most of all, we want to do meaningful work and work that impacts our clients’ goals and objectives.
The Agency President
Chris Rosica is president of Rosica Communications. He has also authored three books: The Business of Cause Marketing, The Authentic Brand, and The Power of B2B social media. Chris co-founded Interact Marketing, a digital marketing agency, in 2008.
Regarding his beginning in the public relations industry, Chris remarked, “I was involved in a healthcare technology startup in the 1990s. When we sold that company, I was contemplating what to do next. At the time, my parents had a PR firm and they said, ‘we need an exit strategy.’ Three years later, I bought them out.”
Talking about how he developed an interest in the PR industry, Chris says, “I have always been a writer. When I was in college, I wrote for a local Miami magazine, so I’ve always accelerated at storytelling and content development. I’ve written three books, contributed to Inc. magazine and other national and regional publications, and regularly ghostwrite for our clients. This certainly helped to accelerate my interest in PR.”
Mr Rosica is passionate about helping businesses and nonprofits grow, adapt to change, outpace the competition, and improve their internal and external communications.
