What is your job title, and what does it mean?

My job title at Flying Cork is Interactive Developer, and it means I get to utilize my expertise in user experience (UX) and human-computer interaction (HCI) to design and create web applications including websites. The digital products I make have a positive impact on a client’s internal processes, streamlining them so they too can be more productive and successful.

What is your most memorable commercial that is not from Flying Cork? Why?

One of the most memorable advertisements that stick out in my mind is a video titled ONEbyONE created as part of ONE’s campaign to end extreme poverty and preventable disease worldwide. It feels like it’s such a simple video concept-wise. Just voices, no sound effects or music. Just jump-cuts, no fancy transitions. Everyone is wearing the same outfit with the same background, no fancy environment or wardrobe. And I think having everyone read the same script and then just blending them together… simple, but powerful. It was impactful in my mind.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Feeling like I have unlimited time to just code. I work from home and have a room in my house dedicated to being my home office. When the kid goes to school and my husband goes to the lab, I’m left alone (almost) all day with two cats and my thoughts. Being able to work without interruption is the best feeling. I have a neurocognitive condition that makes transitions difficult, so holding onto a train of thought can be challenging when even the smallest but persistent noise is around. Working from home, I have total control over my environment and no worry about loss of mental labor due to task interruption.

How has Flying Cork helped with your career development?

Working at Flying Cork has helped me rebuild my self-confidence. I would often walk into a room (or virtual meeting) and automatically assume I’m the dumbest person there. After working with clients who have talked me up to others calling me an “expert,” I finally have the confidence to refer to myself as an expert too, without the imposter syndrome.

First job or weirdest job you have had?

The first job I ever had was when I was 15-years-old, I lived with my grandparents and worked at Hershey Park as a ride’s attendant. I wasn’t old enough to operate the rides, so my job was checking restraints, ensuring safety, appropriate attire, and height requirements for the ride I was working on. I basically lived at Hershey Park that summer and became the King of Dance Dance Revolution with how much time I spent in the arcade. I think I still have some of the expert-level moves memorized if I heard the song. Adults were right in that it didn’t help me learn how to actually dance!

What is something that might surprise us about you?

I am an autistic self-advocate and I’m very passionate about social justice, especially in the areas of neurodiversity, disability, autism, gender diversity, sexual orientation, and race. I spend a lot of my free time volunteering and helping local nonprofit and grassroots organizations like Lebo Pride, M.O.R.E, South Hills Gun Sense Alliance, and Misfits on a Mission.

I’ve even started becoming a bit of a public speaker, both for pre-recorded and live events. I just can’t help myself because I also maintain a personal blog called Just 1 Voice where I provide educational information, resources, and amplify voices of other marginalized communities. When they say us autistic people go deep into our special interests, we go way deep, and my special interest in social justice is a prime example.

Besides working at Flying Cork, what are your Top 3 life highlights?

I could easily say my top 3 highlights are my child’s birth, my wedding, and some other major life milestone, and while they are incredibly happy moments marking an important change in my life, I’d actually have to say my top 3 highlights are actually the month after my child’s birth, the 24 hours before the wedding, and the time I brought in the single highest donating sponsor for the inaugural Lebo Pride Celebration.

My child’s birth was complicated, and it took a while for me to recover. When I was physically capable of picking up my new baby for the first time without assistance, about a month after she was born, that was a highlight for me.

The night before our wedding, I was so stressed out about decorating and some of my friends who weren’t even in the wedding party took it upon themselves to throw me a surprise party in the suite.

And finally, the inaugural Lebo Pride Celebration was held in June 2022. We planned it in under 2 months and it was such a massive success. Queer and gender diverse people of all ages, including myself, felt loved, seen, and we really had a fantastic time.

What is the best book you have ever read?

I can’t decide on the “best” book, but the most impactful book I’ve ever read was The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion. I read it while I was part of a book club. It follows an autistic geneticist, Don Tillman, and how he goes about life with “projects.” For example, he decides he wants to find a wife and get married, so he starts about the “wife project.” He also helps his friend Rosie find her father and calls that the titular “Rosie Project.” This book really sucked me in because I found Don’s way of thinking so incredibly relatable. Take this excerpt from page 134 for example:

Throughout my life I have been criticized for a perceived lack of emotion, as if this were some absolute fault. Interactions with psychiatrists and psychologists–even including Claudia–start from the premise that I should be more “in touch” with my emotions. What they really mean is that I should give in to them. I am perfectly happy to detect, recognize, and analyze emotions. This is a useful skill and I would like to be better at it. Occasionally an emotion can be enjoyed–the gratitude I felt for my sister, who visited me even during the bad times, the primitive feeling of wellbeing after a glass of wine–but we need to be vigilant that emotions do not cripple us.

I diagnosed brain overload and set up a spreadsheet to analyze the situation. 

I began by listing the recent disturbances to my schedule. Two were unquestionably positive. 

I’ve experienced the very same criticisms and was even told in a former employee review that my reports were too robotic. I also love to create spreadsheets and weighted pro/con lists to help me visualize complex, emotional decisions.

When I walked into the book club meeting excited to talk about all the ways I loved this book, I found everyone else to be in complete and utter confusion about why he would do these things.

The pathologizing talk of autism in the room had scared me from speaking up then, but I eventually did receive an Autistic Spectrum Disorder diagnosis in 2020 after finding the language to describe my experiences.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“Ask for help”—It’s so simple and goes against everything I was taught to be–that I had to be independent, 100% self-made, refuse all help, do everything myself–that it physically hurts to ask for help because doing so felt like I was admitting defeat.

But then someone told me that every animal is born with their most important instinct to help them survive: giraffes are born with the ability to run, snakes can bite right away, and humans cry for help. We are meant to be a community, to help each other and to allow others to help us. It’s not a weakness to need help, it’s our superpower.

The post Employee Spotlight: Tessa, Interactive Developer appeared first on Flying Cork.

What is your job title, and what does it mean? 

I am a Project Coordinator, so my main responsibilities are to organize and prioritize email projects and assets from our clients and communicate that to our internal email marketing team. I ensure we receive the necessary assets, quality check, and meet our deployment dates to achieve both our clients and the internal team’s marketing goals.

What is your favorite part about working for Flying Cork?

My favorite part about working for Flying Cork would be the people. Everyone has been so great to work with, and it’s nice to have some fun and make jokes with coworkers in and out of the office.

Dream vacation?

Travel all of Europe, but my top 3 would be Italy, Austria, and Greece.

Favorite meal?

Fish and Chips

What is your most memorable commercial that is not from Flying Cork? Why?

My favorite is the Geico Hump Day Camel commercial. It was such a simple and silly idea, but it’s something my family still jokes about.

Random fact?

I’m left-handed!

First job?

Painting with a Twist 

How has Flying Cork helped with your career development?

Coming from the events industry into the marketing world, there have been a lot of similarities; however, I’m continuously learning more about emails and improving my project coordination skills as a marketer. Working in a new industry definitely provides more opportunities to learn and grow!

Guilty pleasure?

Not sure if this is a guilty pleasure, but puzzles! Or Sheetz Mac and Cheese bites!

What is a Cork Popping Moment you’ve experienced while working at Flying Cork?

Within my short time at Flying Cork so far, I have been involved in the redesign of a few newsletters and was able to see the new designs implemented and improve engagement. Finding new ways to improve our work for the client and have it succeed is always exciting to see!

The post Employee Spotlight: Michaela, Project Coordinator appeared first on Flying Cork.

Thanks to the hard work of our eCommerce team, Flying Cork is now officially a Verified Partner on Amazon’s Advertising Partner Network. 

The Partner Network is a self-service hub for agencies and tool providers to manage their business relationships with Amazon Ads. Through the network, Amazon recognizes partners that demonstrate expertise and engagement with Amazon Ads and deliver growth for advertisers. Advertisers that are looking for a partner can also consider partner status as a data point in their selection.

This accomplishment legitimizes Flying Cork in the eyes of Amazon as a trusted resource for sellers of all sizes who want to promote their products profitably on the largest e-Commerce platform in the world, but don’t necessarily have the know-how or time to devote to managing it themselves. 

Eric, Flying Cork’s Director of eCommerce Services, adds, “At Flying Cork, we don’t use gimmicks or 3rd party software to automate bidding strategies or budgets because we understand that even similar products have nuances that AI can’t yet control. We get our hands dirty and do the work ourselves each and every day to ensure every single product under our management is operating as efficiently as possible.”

The post Flying Cork Recognized as an Amazon Ads Verified Partner appeared first on Flying Cork.

This month, some of Flying Cork’s eCommerce team attended the 2023 Prosper Show in Las Vegas. The Prosper Show brings together established eCommerce sellers to network, connect, and learn how to make their independent businesses more profitable. The content of the show is geared towards learning and sharing best practices for selling not just on Amazon, but for building an Omni channel presence for brands.

As Eric, Flying Cork’s Director of eCommerce Services, added, “I am excited to implement the things I learned at the Prosper Show over the next weeks and months for our clients.”

The post Flying Cork Attends Premier eCommerce Show appeared first on Flying Cork.

Two of our employees, Baylee Zimmerman and Lauren Johnson, are proud Point Park University alumnae. They spoke about their time at PPU and how it prepared them to become the amazing Flying Cork employees that we know them as today.

Lauren, our Content Manager, expressed, “I’ve enjoyed how working with Flying Cork has allowed me to expand my writing skillset… During my time with Flying Cork, I have worked with several companies to write blogs, press releases, social media posts, white papers, website copy, brand manuals and more. I’ve even worked in the education field writing brochures, teacher resources, magazines, handbooks, student activities, and children’s educational comic books. When I graduated from Point Park, I never would have imagined how much my writing skills would continue to grow and develop.”

Our Project Manager Baylee participated in a co-op with Flying Cork as a student thanks to PPU’s Career Development Center and has been with us ever since. As Baylee told PPU, “My favorite part about working for Flying Cork is that every day is different and brings a new learning experience to the table. As a project manager, I oversee a multitude of projects that range from websites to social media and it constantly keeps me on my toes.”

The post Flying Cork Named As Point Park University’s Neighbor of the Week appeared first on Flying Cork.

Anya, Marketing Coordinator

“A major Cork Popping Moment I have had this year at Flying Cork was successfully getting one of our websites recognized as a news source on Google News and Google Discover. This was one of the goals I set for myself this year, so seeing the success the website has received as a result makes it extra exciting.”

Matt, Creative Director

“One of the biggest CPMs for me was the brand refresh we launched for Flying Cork this past spring. It was amazing to get such quality feedback about the brand from the entire team and implement it into a refresh that better represents who we are as an agency today. In addition, we worked hard to completely redesign our website to reflect the new style and positioning.”

Krystal, Senior Manager Marketing Automation

“This past year I celebrated my 10 year anniversary at Flying Cork. Looking back on the past decade, it’s incredible to see how much I’ve learned and grown professionally. I truly enjoy working with our clients and such a dedicated team of people.”

Baylee, Project Coordinator

“One of my largest cork popping moments was implementing SalesForce Marketing Cloud into our marketing strategy for a partner. This is a project that had many moving parts and took multiple sets of hands to accomplish, but seeing it from start to finish was incredible. Deploying our first email from the platform was such a breath of fresh air.”

Lauren, Content Manager

“One of many Cork Popping Moments this year at Flying Cork was having six of my blogs reach over 100,000 people, and four blogs receive over 10,000 post engagements. It always makes me feel inspired to see how our audience has grown and that we’re writing content that excites people.”

Eric, e-Commerce Director

“The biggest Cork Popping Moments for me were helping our e-Commerce clients grow their year over year gross revenue on Amazon by an average of over 42.5%, and getting 3 of our clients launched on a brand new sales platform to diversify and grow top line revenue even further. Our clients combined to gross over $5 million on Amazon alone this year.”

Adam, Web Developer

“The biggest Cork Popping Moment for me was having the opportunity to work with the content and development teams to build the new Flying Cork website. I really enjoyed working on such a large project, and getting to see it all come together and publicly represent the company I work for was very satisfying.”

The post Flying Cork’s Cork Popping Moments of 2022 appeared first on Flying Cork.

Brand Realignment

In 2022, the Flying Cork Media team worked together to implement a brand realignment strategy. This involved completely redesigning our company website and social media pages to reflect the changes and updates we’ve made as a company in the past few years. Our team worked hard behind the scenes to create a modern and sleek website layout with design elements that better reflect our company’s mission, goals, and marketing style. 

Additionally, we updated the copy on our website to more clearly and concisely reflect our services and overall capabilities as a brand. We’ve continued to publish content on our website and social media weekly which has allowed both our clients and potential customers to stay up-to-date on our accomplishments, our client’s successes, and the latest marketing industry trends.

We’re Grateful Because…

As a company, we tend to focus very heavily on our clients. If you’re one of our clients, you may say this is a positive attribute. But, in past years, doing so has caused us to neglect our brand image in the process. With our 2022 brand realignment strategy, we took the necessary time to focus on ourselves and the overall brand image that Flying Cork Media was presenting. The updates that our team has worked to implement have allowed us to truly put our best foot forward with new clients and showcase the capabilities of our brand upfront.

Google Discover and Google News Recognition

Thanks to the work of our content team, one of our websites became featured on Google Discover and Google News in 2022. This means that the two Google platforms recognize the website’s content to have expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, among other things. However, a website cannot be submitted to Google Discover and Google News to appear; instead, Google’s algorithm must pick it up. 

In order to get recognized by Google’s algorithm, our content team researched the best practices of Google Discover and Google News and applied them to the website. This includes writing newsworthy content, optimizing several technical factors, and more. 

We’re Grateful Because…

This marketing win represents our team’s dedication to creating exemplary content for our clients. The recognition on Google News and Google Discover also delivers massive results–the website received over 730,000 impressions on Google Discover in October alone. Further adding to this marketing win is the fact the two platforms are organic, not paid. 

Instagram Reels Success

Even though Instagram Reels were introduced back in 2020, 2022 was a massive year for the platform. In July 2022, Instagram decided that all video uploads will become Reels, and in June 2022, Instagram allowed users to upload Reels up to 90 seconds in length. All in all, 91 percent of Instagram’s over 2 billion users watch a video on the platform at least once a week. 

We’re Grateful Because…

Because of these proven stats and improvements, Instagram Reels can be an integral part of Flying Cork Media’s social strategy for some clients. For example, we created and uploaded a reel that showcased the brand and expertise. The Reel has received over 241,000 impressions, 5,500 likes, 1,000 shares, and 1,000 shares. Looking towards 2023, Instagram Reels will definitely be utilized for select digital advertising strategies. 

Salesforce Marketing Cloud Integration

Though Flying Cork Media has extensive experience with the implementation, administration, and deployment of Salesforce Marketing Cloud, this year marks the beginning of our journey toward bringing its superior customer personalization capabilities to the brand Tomorrow’s World Today. As we do so, it will exponentially expand their capability to effectively personalize the content created for the Tomorrow’s World Today’s television series, website content, and social media pages toward their target audience. Implementing this software will allow Tomorrow’s World Today to more accurately track the customer journey, gain crucial insights into their audience’s content preferences, and capture new and targeted consumers.

We’re Grateful Because…

While we are still in the early stages of our journey toward fully integrating the Salesforce Marketing Cloud into Tomorrow’s World Today’s operations, we’re looking forward to the growth we anticipate experiencing in 2023. Additionally, we’re grateful for the hard work that our team has collectively put toward implementing this software thus far and for their continued work in the upcoming months. The Flying Cork Media team has worked with Salesforce Marketing Cloud for seven years and bringing that expertise to Tomorrow’s World Today will expand our knowledge both within and outside of the healthcare and life science vertical.

The post Marketing Wins We’re Grateful For in 2022 appeared first on Flying Cork.

What is Google Discover?

Google Discover suggests highly-personalized hand-selected news and articles to each user. Unlike search, Discover features content based on what Google’s algorithm believes to be a good match with a user’s interests and search activity, not in response to a query. Users can also follow specific topics to help guide Discover. Chrome Android users can also follow websites with Discover. 

Google Discover can currently be found in the Google app on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store, on Google’s browser on an Android phone or tablet, and on some devices’ home screens. The content in Discover is automatically refreshed as new content is published, but Discover is designed to show all types of helpful content from across the web.              

How To Get Your Articles on Google Discover

Content is automatically eligible to appear in Discover if it is indexed by Google and meets Discover’s content policies. For example, it must be timely, relevant, accurate, original, and reflect industry-leading expertise. 

The content must also abide by Google’s search engine rules, such as not including exploitation, violence, harassment, highly personal information, or spam. Additionally, the content must satisfy several technical factors pertaining to site structure, languages, HTML, anchor links, domains, mobile compatibility, and more. 

However, being eligible for Discover does not guarantee it will appear. To boost your chances, your content has to be exemplary. For example, it must be timely, eye-catching, well-researched, and more. 

Case Study 

Take an article we wrote for our client Tomorrow’s World Today, for example. The article is entitled “Bladeless Wind Turbine Generates 50% More Renewable Energy,” and it was extremely successful on Google News. It received over 775,000 total impressions in under two weeks.

The article is timely, heavily researched, and discusses renewable energy, which is a newsworthy and trending topic. Thanks to our content team’s work to get the client’s website on Google Discover, this article received visibility on Google Discover and thus higher organic traffic. 

The post How To Get Your Articles On Google Discover appeared first on Flying Cork.

What is your job title, and what does it mean?

I am a Junior Developer, meaning I am working in various places in order to gain more experience. My involvement focuses on web development, which allows me to practice HTML and CSS in a real work environment. Putting together websites was what interested me the most during my time at school, so I am very grateful to be able to continue learning in this position.

How has Flying Cork helped with your career development?

Flying Cork was how I got my foot in the door for my IT career. I joined Flying Cork right after graduating college, allowing me to get real workplace experience. I am extremely thankful that Flying Cork brought me on board to a place where I can work in such a friendly environment, doing work that I enjoy.

Guilty pleasure?

When I am out on the road, I have a very large urge to drive my way over to any nearby fast-food restaurant and pick up a frappe. Even though I have been trying to pay better attention to what I eat, something about a bittersweet milkshake, topped with caramel or mocha and textured with specks of ice makes me turn the car around every time.

What is your most memorable advertisement that is not from Flying Cork? Why?

When I was in elementary school, we had an assembly where someone came in to show off a product. Of course, as kids we just thought it was an entertaining way to skip classes. The advertisement was for yoyos, which came in different styles. In front of the entire school, a man showed off a bunch of yoyo tricks. I ordered a yoyo right after the assembly, which I still have and use to this day.

What is something that might surprise us about you?

Something that always surprises people when I show them is my hitchhiker’s thumb, which is a thumb that can bend backward over 50 degrees. My thumb can bend back over 90 degrees, which always looks strange when I give a thumbs-up. Plenty of kids when I was younger would be alarmed and think I broke a bone.

What is your favorite part about working for Flying Cork?

Everyone has been very helpful and accommodating. With any issues or problems that need fixing, people are always willing to help. I also love the freedom which allows me to get straight to work. Currently, not needing to make an hour-long drive to the workplace before sitting down and programming lets me do more with my time and money. I can make sure all of that effort goes into what I need to get done instead.

Dream vacation?

One of my hobbies is learning different languages, so my choice is influenced by the languages people speak at the vacation spot. Romanian and Spanish are two languages I’m learning so I can interact with family and friends. However, Japan is what I am personally interested in, making it my top pick. Asian cultures are very different from ours here in the US, which I think would create the most memorable experience for a vacation.

What is the best book you have ever read?

My favorite book would have to be “The Hobbit” Written by J. R. R. Tolkien. Reading it was a required assignment by one of my High School English classes. Within the month we were told to read it, I read it twice within the first week. Something about the way Tolkien describes every detail and creates a new world filled with fantastical creatures and places in your head was something I was unable to put down.

Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“The things you make today can lead to what you make tomorrow.” Projects or personal works which don’t turn out so well at the moment will give you the experience to build something better in the future. This helps me to stay motivated by focusing my attention on what I’ve learned from each experience instead of all my mistakes.

What is a Cork Popping Moment you’ve experienced while working at Flying Cork?

My Cork Popping Moment has to be the moment I pressed the publish button on the first web page I put together for Flying Cork’s website. When creating the page, it’s listed so that only people working on it can see it. Knowing that something I had created, along with its future changes, would be seen by people around the world was truly exciting.

The post Employee Spotlight: Jacob, Junior Developer appeared first on Flying Cork.

1) Define your mission and core values

When undergoing a brand repositioning, begin by defining your company’s mission and core values. First answer this question internally, asking yourself and your employees for their feedback, until you have a shared and concise definition.

Once the mission and core values are defined and up-to-date, review your various marketing materials and ask whether this message is being clearly communicated via the current assets. If the answer is no, you’ll need to brainstorm a means of including this in your updates. One of the best ways for customers and businesses alike to connect with your company is through shared values, so it’s crucial that those values are visible and communicated clearly via your marketing assets.

There are many ways this can be accomplished, such as creating a dedicated “About Us” page on your website to detail the history and mission statement behind the business. In Flying Cork Media’s recent brand reposition, for example, we decided to utilize the homepage for this as it ensures our audience will immediately see what our brand values are. Our homepage begins with our company slogan, then follows with the section “We Are Flying Cork” which defines our values and mission, then leads into the “What We Do” and “How We Do It” sections which more specifically define our business’s marketing services.

2) Refine your voice

The next aspect to consider is your business’s voice. This is a combination of the type of content/assets your company produces as well as the writing style of those assets. The writing style involves diction choice, tone, POV, style, etc. Examine your various marketing assets to ascertain whether the voice in your copy is consistent company-wide. If the answer is no, this is something that you’ll want to clearly define and implement with your brand repositioning strategy.

If your brand has yet to define its voice, conduct competitor research to get a sense of the industry standard regarding copy within your brand’s niche market. You’ll then need to come up with a voice for your business that falls within the industry standard while standing out from the competition. It can be helpful to come up with a style guide and one or two blogs or marketing assets that can be used as examples of this voice, as this will allow a more seamless replication company-wide across all channels. Finally, ensure that your marketing assets are redesigned and rewritten to clearly incorporate your brand’s unique voice.

3) Redesign marketing assets accordingly

Lastly, review all of your marketing assets to ensure they’re communicating your brand’s capabilities and services in both a clear and engaging manner. At this point, it can be helpful to get some outside eyes on your brand’s marketing assets. Are they able to quickly and easily understand what your brand is offering? When a brand is communicating its services, it must strike the perfect balance between being informative and engaging. Too informative and you may lose your audience’s attention, too engaging and your audience may not retain the logistics of your services.

As you’re approaching a reposition, put yourself into the minds of your audience and consider the customer journey as a whole. Are you driving traffic most effectively? Is there a way to make the customer journey more efficient and enjoyable? Think like your ideal customer and use a brand reposition to ensure that they leave every digital interaction with your company with their questions satisfied.

The post 3 Tips for a Successful Brand Reposition appeared first on Flying Cork.