This year marks the 25th anniversary of the launch of KNB Communications, a Stamford-based marketing and public relations agency focused on health care and health IT clients. Over the years, the agency represented both startups and publicly traded companies, as well as health systems and independent physician practices.
The Business Journals spoke with Chintan Shah, the agency”™s president and managing partner, to learn the role it plays in the realm of health care communications and marketing.
Congratulations on the company’s 25th year in business. Not many marketing and public relations agencies make it to a silver anniversary. What is the secret of your success?
I think what is unique about our company and what has allowed us this longevity was that we were built with an idea that we should be always at the cutting edge of innovation. We embrace emerging technologies and we embrace new ways of thinking and creativity ”“ and we always fall back on data driven insights or metrics to be able to show our clients value. We’re never afraid to jump in, learn what’s new and find a way ”“ either to offer it to our clients or to help them understand it better.
Your agency”™s focus is specific to health care and health IT clients. Why did the company decide to focus on these sectors?
When the company was founded 25 years ago, there was a gap in the way health care was covered and how health care companies and technology companies were communicating the value they brought to the industry. And unlike consumer products or other industries, health care had specific needs as a highly regulated industry that requires a depth of knowledge that, in certain cases, only time brings.
Health care entities are sometimes skittish when it comes to actively promoting themselves. How are you able to get new clients and to assure them that your services are what they need as part of their communication strategy?
Because of our longevity and because of our success with over 150 to 200 clients in our history. the majority of our clients come to us through references from current and past clients.
But what we try to do for our clients is help them very quickly see that we have in-depth industry knowledge that we are bringing a forward-thinking, cutting-edge approach that others may not be bringing to them. They don’t have to invest time in educating us about the industry or educating us about health care. Rather, we understand that piece ”“ we invest more time and understanding the nuance of their business so that we can hit the ground running as it relates to their communication program, their marketing lead generation, or their public relations.
A lot of public relations relating to health care is reactive, often in response to a crisis. How do you train your staff to be experts when it comes to crisis communication?
I think the first piece is having an emphasis on hiring positive thinking individuals to be a part of our collective team. We love to hire people who have great attitudes and have their own personal passion ”“ passion is one of our core values. From there, we take a proactive approach and we help to identify trends. We have internal sessions where we talk openly about what we’re seeing ”“ we try to share different best practices or share news, whether it’s through our internal chat or through our weekly Monday standup meetings or other opportunities that we opened up.
So, it’s a combination of the depth of industry knowledge and the attitude and the positivity that the individuals on the team brings.
When the agency began 25 years ago, the Internet was still very much in the infancy and a lot of people were still using fax machines to get messaging out. Has technology made life easier for the communications process? Or, perhaps, has it made it perhaps lazier, with marketers relying on emails rather than picking up a phone and speaking directly to others?
That is an interesting and a very good question. Technology certainly has changed since we started as a business ”“ the vast majority of communication we have now is digital. I think it certainly adds complexity in that there are more channels of communication.
But I also think the number of channels and the pace of communication has actually helped quite a bit. Information exchange can happen faster ”“ you can identify influential individuals and influential outlets and storylines in a much faster way. And I think that certainly helps from a communication standpoint, because oftentimes our clients are looking to be the first to comment ”“ or, at least, comment quickly ”“ when their opinion or their perspective is likely relevant.
You’ve made it 25 years into your operations, what are you doing for an encore in the next 25 years?
Great question. We will look to continue to grow and establish a presence not only within New York and Connecticut, but extend beyond that ”“ throughout the country and internationally, especially among our client base. And then also, I think, we will look at some of the most cutting-edge innovative aspects of health care ”“ telemedicine, artificial intelligence, gene therapy ”“ that we can continue to help shape. We are so proud of the fact that we’re able to impact the health care industry.
