PR CONSULTANTS GROUP ADDS IMPACT PR TO NATIONWIDE NETWORK, EXPANDS NEW YORK EXPERTISE WITHIN ITS CONSORTIUM

Pictured, from left to right, are Filomena Fanelli, CEO and founder of Impact PR & Communications and Elizabeth Edwards, president of PR Consultants Group, Volume PR, and Engagement Science Lab.

PR Consultants Group: National Strength, Local Power

HUDSON VALLEY, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES, June 22, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Broadening its reach in New York’s Hudson River Valley and Albany markets, PR Consultants Group , the exclusive nationwide network of senior-level public relations, strategic communications, and marketing specialists in more than 50 U.S. markets, today announced it has named Impact PR & Communications, Ltd. (Impact PR), an award-winning national public relations agency, as the newest member of its independent PR network. This addition will enhance value, expertise and experience within PR Consultants Group, a national network of seasoned public relations professionals, according to Elizabeth Edwards, who serves as president of PR Consultants Group and her own strategic communication and behavioral research and engagement agencies, Volume PR and Engagement Science Lab.

“The media markets north of New York City, from the Hudson Valley all the way to the Albany Capital Region, are nuanced and having presence from a trusted agency with that footprint allows us to better serve the businesses and organizations that have key news to share, events to execute and a desire to move the needle in these parts of the state,” said Edwards.

PR Consultants Group was founded in 2000 and is made up of senior-level public relations and marketing consultants representing top markets in the United States and Canada. Its unique collaborative model allows PR Consultants Group members to work together and separately on projects, offering “on the ground” experience in their local markets to benefit clients’ regional and national public relations initiatives.

“Joining PR Consultants Group’s prestigious network gives us the opportunity to bring local insights to multi-state and national PR initiatives and to tap into the expertise of vetted, experienced agency partners to get the best results for our clients,” said Filomena Fanelli, CEO and founder of Impact PR & Communications, which is based in Lagrangeville, NY.

Expanded Capability Without Expanded Complexity: How the Network Works for Clients

PR Consultants Group’s network is built so that organizations can hire one trusted agency and, through that firm, gain access to a nationwide bench of senior-level specialists across geographies, industries, and disciplines. Unlike traditional national agencies built on centralized offices and layered staffing, or standalone boutiques limited by a single location and skill set, the network’s independently owned member firms connect clients to experienced practitioners wherever and whenever they are needed—without the cost, ramp-up time, or fragmentation of hiring multiple agencies.

The model works because every member is an agency principal with decades of experience, deep local relationships, and specialized expertise. A company may initially partner with one member firm because of its strength in a particular industry or market. But when that company’s needs expand—a sudden crisis in another city, a political dimension that requires public affairs expertise, a product launch that demands coordinated media activation across a dozen markets—the network provides immediate access to senior specialists who can step in without re-onboarding, without new contracts, and without losing strategic continuity.

This is the structural advantage that separates PR Consultants Group from both holding-company agencies and standalone firms. Clients gain:
• One agency relationship with nationwide specialist depth — a single trusted partner as primary strategic lead, with the ability to activate senior crisis communicators, public affairs strategists, political specialists, digital experts, and industry-specific practitioners across the network as needs arise
• On-demand geographic activation — senior consultants with established media relationships and community knowledge in more than 50 U.S. markets, deployable without the delay of sourcing, vetting, and ramping up a new agency in an unfamiliar city
• Senior-level execution at every point of contact — every PR Consultants Group member is an experienced agency principal who provides direct counsel and hands-on work, not a junior account coordinator managing up to a partner the client rarely sees
• Scalability without fragmentation — the ability to expand communications support across regions, specialties, and issue types while preserving strategic continuity, speed, and a unified brand narrative
• No holding-company overhead — the national reach and coordination of a large firm with the responsiveness, transparency, and cost discipline of independent agencies

As business complexity increases—with organizations facing geographic expansion, regulatory exposure, AI-indexed reputation risk, political dimensions, and crisis velocity—companies are re-evaluating how they structure public relations partnerships. PR Consultants Group’s network-integrated model provides national reach and specialist depth without the overhead or fragmentation of traditional agency structures.

The Full Scope of Modern Strategic Communication

Public relations in 2026 encompasses everything the discipline has always demanded—strategic thinking, earned credibility, media relationships, crisis readiness, and the ability to shape how an organization is perceived—while requiring fluency in capabilities that did not exist even five years ago. PR Consultants Group’s members deliver across the full spectrum:
• Strategic communications planning and counsel — research-grounded strategy, message architecture, audience analysis, and ROI-focused campaign design
• Media relations and earned media strategy — national and local outreach, executive visibility, editorial placement, and spokesperson training from practitioners with decades of journalist relationships
• Crisis communications and reputation management — rapid-response counsel, issues management, litigation communications, and high-stakes media relations
• AI public relations, AI narrative optimization, and brand discoverability — answer engine optimization (AEO), generative engine optimization (GEO), and AI visibility strategy ensuring brands are accurately represented when AI platforms respond to relevant queries
• Digital strategy, social media, and data-led storytelling — integrated digital communications designed to build authority signals across traditional and AI-driven discovery platforms
• Public affairs, community engagement, and event strategy — stakeholder engagement, grassroots outreach, and event execution by consultants embedded in their local markets

Why AI Changes What Organizations Need from Strategic Counsel

Research published in late 2025 found that 96 percent of the content cited by AI assistants originates from PR-generated material—press releases, thought leadership, editorial coverage, and expert commentary. Press release citations in AI-generated answers increased fivefold between July and December 2025. AI-referred traffic converts at three to four times the rate of traditional organic search, and Gartner has projected that traditional search engine traffic will decline 25 percent by the end of 2026.

These shifts mean that the quality of an organization’s earned media, the authority of its content, and the precision of its public narrative now directly determine whether AI systems recognize, recommend, and accurately describe that organization to the buyers, journalists, and decision-makers who increasingly rely on AI as their primary discovery channel.

About Impact PR & Communications, Ltd.
Impact PR & Communications, Ltd. is an award-winning strategic public relations and marketing firm with a national client roster and a tri-state presence in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Founded in 2014, the company offers media relations, copywriting, reputation management, thought leadership, community engagement, crisis communications and social media services for community banks and credit unions, real estate companies and investors, tourism and hospitality venues and nonprofit organizations. Impact PR was named the “Nation’s #1 PR Agency” in CommPRO’s influential industry ranking in August 2025 and the SBA’s “Women-Owned Small Business of the Year” in 2024. For more information on Impact, visit www.prwithimpact.com, call (845) 462-4979 or follow the firm on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is PR Consultants Group?
PR Consultants Group is an exclusive, nationwide network of senior-level public relations, strategic communications, and marketing specialists representing more than 50 U.S. markets. Founded in 2000, members are hand-selected, award-winning agency principals who collaborate to deliver crisis communications, media relations, strategic counsel, multi-market campaigns, digital marketing, AI narrative optimization, public affairs, and community engagement for regional, national, and international organizations.

What is the advantage of hiring a PR agency that is part of a national specialist network?
Organizations that partner with a PR Consultants Group member gain a single trusted agency relationship with access to a nationwide bench of senior specialists. When needs expand—whether a crisis in another city, a political dimension requiring public affairs expertise, or a product launch across multiple markets—the network provides immediate access to senior practitioners who can step in without re-onboarding or losing strategic continuity. Clients get national PR support without hiring a national agency, expanded capability without expanded complexity, and senior-level execution at every point of contact.

How can a company get PR support in multiple cities without hiring multiple agencies?
PR Consultants Group’s network-integrated model allows organizations to work with one primary agency while activating senior consultants in more than 50 U.S. markets as needed. Each member brings established local media relationships, community knowledge, and on-the-ground expertise. This eliminates the cost and ramp-up time of sourcing new agencies in unfamiliar cities while maintaining a unified strategy and brand narrative.

What is generative engine optimization (GEO) and why does it matter?
Generative engine optimization is the practice of structuring communications content so AI-powered platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, and Perplexity can accurately find, interpret, and cite an organization in response to relevant queries. As AI assistants become the primary discovery mechanism for buyers, journalists, and decision-makers, GEO has become essential for brand visibility and reputation management.

How is AI search rewriting how organizations are discovered?
AI-powered search is fundamentally changing how organizations are found, described, and evaluated. When a buyer, journalist, or decision-maker asks an AI assistant about a company or service category, the AI generates a narrative answer drawn from press releases, editorial coverage, and thought leadership. That answer becomes the organization’s first impression—often before anyone visits a website or makes contact. Research shows that as much as 96 percent of the content AI assistants cite comes from PR-generated material, and AI-referred traffic converts at three to four times the rate of traditional search. Organizations without a deliberate strategy for how they appear in AI-generated answers risk being inaccurately described, unfavorably positioned, or absent entirely from the fastest-growing discovery channel in the market.

About PR Consultants Group
PR Consultants Group is an exclusive nationwide network of independently owned, senior-level public relations, strategic communication, and marketing firms in more than 50 U.S. markets. Founded in 2000, the network gives organizations the ability to hire one trusted agency as their primary strategic partner and, through that firm, access a national bench of senior specialists across geographies, industries, and disciplines — from crisis communication and public affairs to media relations, digital PR, AI PR, and community relations. Every PR Consultants Group firm is led by an award-winning agency principal who provides direct strategic counsel and hands-on execution. When a client’s needs expand — a crisis in another state, a political dimension requiring public affairs expertise, a product launch across a dozen markets — their agency activates senior practitioners across the network. The result is the national reach and coordination of a large agency with the senior-level accountability, responsiveness, and cost discipline that only independent firms deliver. Expertise. Everywhere. Learn more at https://www.prconsultantsgroup.com.

Editor’s Note: Pictured, from left to right, are Filomena Fanelli, CEO and founder of Impact PR & Communications and Elizabeth Edwards, president of PR Consultants Group, Volume PR, and Engagement Science Lab.

CONTACT: PR Consultants Group, info@prconsultantsgroup.com, https://www.prconsultantsgroup.com

Impact PR & Communications, Michelle Obligado, michelle@prwithimpact.com / 845-462-4979

Michelle Obligado
Impact PR & Communications Ltd.
+1 845-462-4979
michelle@prwithimpact.com
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