Monthly marketing review with Quarra Stone covering strong SEO momentum, a finalized strategy for the Quarra Italia microsite, a video production opportunity under evaluation, and ongoing Salesforce implementation work.
Date: September 2025
Attendees:
- Lincoln Durham (Quarra Stone)
- Lauren Pomaranski (Quarra Stone)
- Avoke Onorimuo (Asymmetric)
- Mark Hope (Asymmetric)
Quarra Italia microsite confirmed. Rather than a redirect or single-page site, the team will build a 3–5 page microsite focused on European heritage, local expertise, and architectural presence. The site will link heavily back to the main Quarra USA site. Goal is to plant a flag for European prospects (e.g., a buyer in Hungary) who might otherwise dismiss a U.S.-facing brand. See [1].
"Bit Screens Through a Phone" project categorized as Fine Art. The case study was already live; it just needed a proper category. Lincoln confirmed: Fine Art.
CNC Capabilities Guide cleared for release. Lincoln had previously approved it in the Google Sheet. Asymmetric to publish immediately after the call.
Video production with The Local Project: no decision yet. The team flagged the $15K–$30K cost range as reasonable for cinematic quality but noted travel costs (the production company is Australian, though they have a New York office) are not included. The key question is ROI vs. vanity. One idea: time a shoot around next year's Quarra Italia Party and bring the crew to Italy for studio footage. Decision deferred.
Strong across the board. Mark walked through the metrics live:
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Organic traffic | +178% |
| Keywords in top 3 (Google) | 21 |
| Keywords in top 10 (Google) | 52 |
| Total ranked keywords | 73 |
| Backlinks | 1.3K → 2.3K (doubled) |
| Site health score | 100 |
Additional notes:
- Page count was deliberately reduced ("Marie Kondo'd") — fewer, higher-quality pages correlating with traffic gains.
- Quarra is now appearing in Google Gemini AI results, which Mark flagged as a meaningful milestone. The Q&A sections added to blog posts are a key driver of AI citation.
- Mark's view: paid ads and organic traffic are not officially related per Google, but 30 years of experience suggests ad spend rewards organic ranking. Stopping ads has historically caused immediate organic drops for other clients.
The existing Italian site skews heavily toward fine art and doesn't address architectural work. The new microsite will:
The video production opportunity (The Local Project) could complement this if timed with the Quarra Italia Party next year.
Lincoln had a preliminary call with a representative from The Local Project, an architecture/design media outlet with ~1.5M Instagram followers. They proposed two potential videos:
1. A spotlight on the new Quarra USA facility
2. A piece on the Italian studio
Cost estimate: $15K–$30K, excluding travel
Travel note: The Local Project is Australian but has a New York office, which reduces travel complexity for U.S. shoots.
Mark's framing: cinematic brand videos can be powerful, but the team should ask whether this drives business or is primarily a "vanity project." An alternative approach would be to engage a local agency and document a single project from start to finish over the course of a year — multiple shoot days, no travel costs.
Status: Under evaluation. No budget commitment made.
Progress is ongoing, with a few friction points surfaced:
Working / recently resolved:
- Lincoln successfully converted a lead to an opportunity the day before the call
- Accounts for Federica and Valentina (Italian team) — in progress or done
- Field rename: "Primary Stone Type" → "Primary Material Type" (add plaster) — in progress
Issues to fix:
- Opportunity owner field locked for editing — Lincoln cannot change the owner when editing an opportunity. Mark confirmed this is a permissions issue; two-minute fix.
- Jennifer unable to convert lead to opportunity — Possibly related to a validation rule that was intentionally put in place to block conversion until a prospect folder is generated. That rule may still be active. Mark to investigate and ensure conversion is open for all users until the prospect folder automation is complete.
Team collaboration in Salesforce (upcoming):
Lincoln described a shift in how Quarra structures sales pursuits — more cross-functional involvement between the U.S. and Italian teams, and between business development ("bird dogs") and closers. QLab personnel are also involved in early-stage estimation (3D modeling, machine simulations). The team discussed applying an ARCI model to Salesforce opportunity teams:
Mark showed how Asymmetric uses this model in their own project management system. Lincoln liked the approach and wants to apply it to the Opportunity object and eventually the Project object for continuity from sales through manufacturing.