SEO, Content and Trust Top List of Global PR Takeaways from the Spring PRGN Global Leadership Conference

TROY, Mich., May 10, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Search engine optimization, digital content and trust topped the list of topics being discussed by top independent public relations agencies globally, according to James A. Bianchi, president of Bianchi Public Relations, Inc., after meeting with his global colleagues from the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) The group recently met for PRGN's Semi-annual Global Leadership Conference held in Washington D.C.

Bianchi said he met with the principals of more than 30 member firms representing more than 40 countries around the world to share best practices in client service and firm management, discuss emerging issues, identify trends and boost understanding and cooperation among the network's 47 member agencies.

At the conference, Bianchi said there were a number of key takeaways from discussion about the emerging global communications environment, including:

1. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the key to building business today. Customers and clients increasingly are finding and vetting their business partners through online search. If you're not doing SEO, you may never be found by the right people. PRGN agencies are helping their clients with SEO through quality content, Paid/Earned/Shared/Owned campaigns and other approaches which leverage and balance traditional PR and digital channels.
   
2. Nothing will fix bad content. Content is king, but content without the right strategy, context or audience is just clutter. The best content comes from knowing and addressing the specific wants and needs of your audience, thereby making your content "shareworthy", and in knowing where to find and activate that audience, as it's easier to find a community than to build a community. For maximum ROI on content, PRGN advises that communicators plan to spend as much time and effort promoting the content as you did to create it.
   
3. To be successful in the tsunami of online content, modern storytelling has to touch human emotions and incorporate powerful images. And increasingly, those stories need to be formatted to be responsive and effective on any type of device screen – smart phone, tablet, laptop or desktop pc – and amplified via traditional media, otherwise they risk being passed over.
   
4. The best PR firms continue to expand their service offering AND to deepen their expertise in their key markets. More PRGN agencies are combining traditional and emerging methods to meet the new environment. While they are strengthening their relationships with reporters and influencers, immersing themselves deeper into their communities and industry sectors, and embedding themselves in key events and issues, they are also adding new channels, tools and platforms (digital content, search engine optimization, social media marketing, video, photography, design, research and web) to be stronger business partners to their clients.
   
5. Technology can't do it alone, but technology plus personal relationships is a powerful combination. By leveraging technology and established personal relationships, PRGN agencies can offer clients a competitive advantage across the country and around the world, with glocalization – programs that are developed and implemented globally, but are tailored to fit local markets and cultures by local, in-country experts.
   
6. Trust is more important than ever. In this age of massive product recalls, cheating scandals and record-level disdain for businesses, political candidates and institutions, trust is a scarce but key success factor. In fact, it's the currency of good business. Being authentic – by demonstrating integrity, honesty and transparency – is the key to earning trust. PRGN member agencies help clients to stay on the right path and to build that kind of trust.
   
7. Agency owners need to get off the day-to-day business treadmill. As entrepreneurs, PRGN agency owners are so focused on serving their clients' needs that they often don't take the time to reset their agency vision, identify new opportunities for their agency and their clients, or look at emerging trends and issues to find new ways to create value for their clients. The semi-annual PRGN leadership conferences can encourage and act as a catalyst for this kind of vision-setting.
   
8. Great ideas can come from anywhere - from the other side of your own office to the other side of the globe.  PRGN agencies have the ability to generate a world of great ideas to help their clients succeed, by seeking out and sharing diverse opinions and viewpoints across all demographic, geographic and cultural sectors.

Bianchi said the three-day conference was hosted by Xenophon Strategies, a Washington D.C.-based strategic public affairs firm (www.xenophonstrategies.com). PRGN partners meet twice a year in cities around the world, with the next PRGN global leadership meeting slated to be held in November in Lisbon, Portugal, and will be hosted by PRGN's partner in Portugal, Global Press (http://global-press.com/).

Agency members are independent, local, owner-operated public relations and communications agencies that share expertise and resources, while providing broad-based comprehensive communications strategies to clients worldwide. If a company or organization is interested in the services of PRGN's local agency network, go to www.PRGN.com for more information.

Bianchi said PRGN is actively recruiting PR members in Belgium, China and other markets. Independent agencies interested in joining the network can visit the member recruitment section of the PRGN website for more information or email its membership chair, C.L. Conroy, CEO and founder of The Conroy Martinez Group, at [email protected].

About Public Relations Global Network (PRGN)  
Clients across six continents depend on the combined resources of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) to deliver targeted public relations campaigns in markets around the world.  With revenues of more than $110 million (U.S.D.), PRGN is one of the world's largest international public relations networks.  PRGN harnesses the resources of approx. 50 independent public relations firms and more than 900 communications professionals to connect international companies and organizations with individual and culturally diverse markets globally.  Visit PRGN online at www.prgn.com or on twitter at @PRGN.

About Bianchi PR  
With special expertise in PR and social media in the automotive supplier, business-to-business and professional service firm sectors, Bianchi PR was founded in 1992 and was recently ranked #2 among independent PR agencies based in Michigan and among the Top 20 Midwest independent firms, according to PRWeek magazine's 2016 agency report.

Among Bianchi PR's automotive, industrial, professional service and business-to-business PR clients are Accuride Corp., Attorneys Title Agency, BASF, Cooper Standard, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, KIRCO, Johnson Controls, Schaeffler Group, SRG Global, Yanfeng Automotive Interiors and ZF TRW Automotive. The firm's experience also includes work with organizations such as Domino's Pizza, SAE International, the Automotive Industry Action Group, the Center for Automotive Research and the Steel Market Development Institute. For more information, visit http://www.bianchipr.com or call 248-269-1122.

SOURCE Bianchi PR