Q4 Strategy & Quarra Italia Website Review — 2026-04-05

Overview

Monthly marketing sync with Quarra Stone. Melissa Cusumano (Asymmetric Director of Operations) led a walkthrough of the Quarra Italia website design, which received approval from the client. Karly Oykhman covered SEO/ad performance metrics, blog content pipeline, and email marketing setup. The call closed with a discussion of Q4 priorities: process streamlining and quality lead generation.

Attendees:
- Melissa Cusumano — Asymmetric (Director of Operations)
- Karly Oykhman — Asymmetric
- Avokerie Onorimuo — Asymmetric
- Lincoln Durham — Quarra Stone (external)
- Lauren Pomaranski — Quarra Stone (external)

Key Decisions

• Quarra Italia homepage design approved — static hero image, services section, project highlights, Instagram feed. No rotating hero needed.
• Project page layout — two-column grid preferred over three-column to emphasize visual weight; confirmed by all attendees.
• Project page content — homepage sample should show 2 artisanal + 2 architectural projects; full projects page will have filtering by category.
• Blog strategy for Quarra Italia — blog will link back to the main Quarra Stone blog rather than hosting separate content on the Italia site, to avoid duplication overhead. SEO trade-off acknowledged.
• Language selector — website will include English, Italian, French, German, and Spanish.
• Contact form routing — inquiries to info@quarraitalia.com with BCC to sales@quarrastone.com for visibility.
• Instagram feed — will pull from the Quarra Italia account (Cervieti by Quarra), not the main Quarra Stone account.
• Domain rating boost service — decision to hold off; current trajectory is strong (DR 34, near 40 threshold). Revisit only if progress stalls.
• Blog review process — Lincoln to continue reviewing before publication; he will make edits directly in Google Sheets and notify Karly when ready to publish.
• Q4 priorities — process streamlining first, quality sales second. Not chasing volume.

Action Items

• [ ] Melissa — Mock up service pages (artisanal carving; architectural/historic restoration) and project page for Quarra Italia; share with client before pushing to developer.
• [ ] Lauren — Contact Federica (Fede) and Gigi for Quarra Italia website assets: project photos, project names, and bios for both artisanal and architectural work.
• [ ] Lauren — Share Google Drive folder link with Italian team for asset uploads.
• [ ] Lauren — Follow up with Veeth (IT company) on company-wide email signature implementation; loop in Asymmetric if Veeth cannot resolve.
• [ ] Lauren — Update Google Business listing with new facility location; record new verification video.
• [ ] Lincoln — Send approved blogs to Karly: "Traditional vs. Digital Fabrication" (edits made in Surfer) and "Evolution of Stone Carving" (ready as-is).
• [ ] Lincoln — Complete review of remaining 2 September blog posts in Google Sheets; notify Karly when done.
• [ ] Lincoln — Finalize traditional E-Guide written content and send to Karly (CNC E-Guide already complete; traditional and fine arts guides pending).
• [ ] Karly — Prepare in-depth email marketing strategy (segmentation, content plan) for next meeting.
• [ ] Karly/Asymmetric — Begin reworking broader marketing strategies aligned with Quarra's 2026 vision; present at a future call.

Quarra Italia Website — Status & Notes

The homepage design was walked through live during the call. Key structural decisions:

Plaster mold collection — Lincoln flagged this as a key differentiator to feature on the artisanal service page: Cervieti holds what is understood to be the largest private collection of plaster molds in the world, plus the capability to create new clay models and molds for custom carving commissions.

Next build steps: Melissa will mock up one service page and the project page. Once those receive client approval, the project moves to the developer. No hard deadline set by client.

Asset pipeline: Lincoln will engage Fede (artisanal) and Gigi (architectural) to supply project photos, names, and bios. Lauren to coordinate outreach and shared Drive folder.

Marketing Performance Metrics

SEO / Organic

Domain rating context: the scale is non-linear — gains become harder at higher numbers. DR 34 is solid; DR 50+ (e.g., Rock Solid) is excellent. A paid service guaranteeing DR 40+ exists at $250 total, but client elected to hold off given current momentum.

Paid Ads

Lead quality from the sales inbox has improved since marketing efforts began. Client confirmed frequency of new inquiries is up.

Content Pipeline

Blogs

Process note: Lincoln prefers to review all blogs before publication to catch factually incorrect or strategically misaligned language. He acknowledged he is a bottleneck and committed to moving faster. Preferred workflow: edits directly in Google Sheets, then notify Karly when ready.

E-Guides

Email Marketing

Account engagement infrastructure is set up and an email template exists. The next call will be dedicated to a full email strategy session covering:
- Segmentation approach
- Email content plan and cadence

Email signature standardization is a separate but related initiative. Lincoln wants a company-wide HTML signature (not an image file) that is:
- Embedded (not an attachment)
- Fully clickable (phone, email, URL as separate links)
- Responsive across desktop and mobile
- Deployed uniformly across all employees (not left to individuals)

Lauren is coordinating with Veeth (Quarra's IT company). Veeth's current position is that each employee must make the change individually; they will provide instructions. Asymmetric can assist if Veeth does not resolve. Melissa noted this is a known pain point across organizations regardless of email platform.

Q4 Goals

Lincoln's stated priorities in order:

1. Streamline marketing processes — consolidate and improve the workflows already initiated with Asymmetric; reduce friction and bottlenecks.
2. Quality over quantity in sales — focus on high-value, imminent opportunities rather than volume. Current backlog is healthy with strong prospects.

Asymmetric will use this framing to rework strategies and ensure alignment heading into 2026. A revised strategy presentation is planned for a future call (not the next one, which will focus on email).

Next Meeting Focus

• Deep dive on email marketing strategy: segmentation, content, cadence.