wiki/clients/current/american-extractions/2025-10-27-weekly-call.md · 1405 words · 2025-10-27

Weekly Call — American Extraction, Cora Italia, Salesforce (2025-10-27)

Date: 2025-10-27
Attendees: Mark Hope, Karly Oykhman, Jacob Jones
Source: Fathom Recording

Overview

Weekly agency sync covering three client areas: American Extraction site launch post-mortem and new SOP, AE Google Ads performance issues and 2026 funnel strategy, Cora Italia payment hold and email strategy planning, and a Salesforce project-number automation launch plan.


American Extraction — Site Launch Post-Mortem

What Happened

Replacing the live AmericanExtractions.com site with a rebuilt version caused minor issues:
- Some blog URLs did not match the old site's structure, resulting in broken links
- Zapier automations tied to forms were lost when the site was pushed over the existing one
- A handful of pages that were linked elsewhere were not rebuilt and needed to be taken down

The client did not notice any of the issues. Eshak is finishing blog fixes the same day as this call. No client impact.

Root Cause

No formal process existed for replacing a live site (as opposed to launching a brand-new one). This was Karly's first site replacement and the gap was not anticipated.

New SOP Requirements

Going forward, site replacements must follow this checklist:

  1. Pre-launch crawl — Crawl the old site (Ahrefs or Screaming Frog) to capture all existing URLs before any work begins
  2. URL reuse or redirect — Reuse existing URLs wherever possible; any URL not carried forward must receive a permanent 301 redirect
  3. Automation audit — Before launch, document all active Zapier automations and form integrations; re-establish them post-launch
  4. Post-launch validation — Force a new Ahrefs crawl and run Screaming Frog on the live domain to surface any remaining broken links

Status


American Extraction — Google Ads Performance

Problem

Impression share is under 10%, and the primary loss driver is rank — not budget.

Root Cause

Ads point to a subdomain (used to isolate THC/CBD content from the main domain per Google policy). That subdomain has no Domain Authority, which suppresses Quality Score and ad rank. Google evaluates three factors for ad rank:

  1. Landing page relevance — keyword alignment between ad copy and landing page
  2. Expected click-through rate — low CTR creates a negative feedback loop
  3. Domain authority — low DA signals low trustworthiness; Google reduces traffic

Plan

Action Owner Detail
Boost subdomain DA to ~40 Mark Contact Brazil contractor; ~$250; contractor guarantees DA-40
Increase daily budget Client decision Currently $15/day; recommended $25/day (~$750/mo)
Add conversion goal: calls from landing page Gilbert (via Karly) Landing page has a phone number; this goal is currently missing
Remove conversion goal: "Get Directions" Gilbert (via Karly) Not relevant for this campaign type

Action (Mark): Email Brazil contractor for quote on AE subdomain DA boost.
Action (Karly): Email Gilbert re: conversion goal changes.


American Extraction — 2026 Strategy

Brand Challenge

AE has a "schizophrenic personality": the brand spans edgy THC/CBD extraction products and more mainstream powder/stick-pack products. These audiences have different expectations and the brand tension creates a marketing challenge.

A long-term solution (splitting into two separate brands/sites, similar to the Tranquini/Wowie model) was discussed but deemed too expensive and time-consuming (~1 year process) for the current stage.

Near-term approach: Continue with the unified brand but be intentional about messaging by product line. Flag brand split as a future strategic option.

2026 Funnel-Based Strategy

The strategy deck will be restructured around a 3-stage B2B funnel. The conversion goal at the bottom is a proposal submission, not a closed sale.

TOFU — Awareness

MOFU — Consideration

BOFU — Proposal

New Tactics for 2026

Action (Karly): Refine AE 2026 strategy deck to clearly map tactics to the three funnel stages; remove or consolidate extra slides.


Cora Italia — Payment Hold & Email Strategy

Payment Status

Cora Italia has not paid the outstanding invoice for the Cora Italia pages built by the agency. Mark believes Lincoln (the client-side contact) will pay but that the Italian principals are being difficult with him.

Decision: No further work on Cora Italia deliverables until payment is received.
Action (Karly): Email Lincoln to ask about payment status.

Email Strategy Direction

Karly presented a high-level email strategy deck for Cora Italia, intended to activate their Salesforce Account Engagement instance (largely unused since purchase).

Key decisions from the discussion:

Focus on one business line at a time — Cora Italia spans multiple lines (architectural stone, stone restoration, fine art) and has a history of slow feedback/approvals. Running parallel campaigns will cause delays.

Priority Business Line Audience
1 Architectural Stone (cladding, facades) Architects, builders, designers, developers, GCs
2 Stone Restoration Architects, project managers, GCs
3 (defer) Fine Art Galleries, artist reps — difficult to target; low priority

Lead volume concern: Current contact database is 7,316 records in Account Engagement. Mark flagged this will be exhausted quickly without top-of-funnel investment.

Recommended split: ~75% effort on MOFU (existing list, quality nurture) / ~25% on TOFU (new list acquisition via ZoomInfo).

Action (Karly): Update Cora Italia strategy deck to reflect the Awareness → MOFU → BOFU funnel structure; remove extra slides; present to Lincoln with one-business-line-at-a-time framing.


Salesforce — Project Number Automation Launch

Background

Sergei's team has completed an automation that assigns a project number to new leads upon creation in Salesforce. The feature was built and tested in sandbox.

Launch Plan

Step Timing Owner
Push automation to production Thursday night Sergei's team
Notify Karly on deploy Thursday night Sergei's team
Live test with Lincoln Friday Salesforce call Karly + Lincoln

Testing method: Create a new lead in the live environment and confirm the project number field populates correctly.

Action (Karly): Email Sergei — push project-number automation to production Thursday night; notify Karly on deploy; test live with Lincoln on Friday's Salesforce call.


Key Decisions

  1. Site replacement SOP will be created to prevent recurrence of launch issues (URL crawl → 301 redirects → automation audit → post-launch validation)
  2. AE subdomain DA boost via Brazil contractor is the primary lever to improve Google Ads impression share
  3. AE 2026 strategy will be restructured around a 3-stage B2B funnel (Awareness / Consideration / Proposal)
  4. Cora Italia work is on hold pending payment from Lincoln
  5. Cora Italia email strategy will focus on Architectural Stone first, then Restoration — Fine Art deferred
  6. Salesforce project-number automation goes to production Thursday night; tested Friday with client

Action Items


Sources

  1. Index
  2. Index
  3. Salesforce Account Engagement