Happy Friday, Reader!

I want to introduce you to a very special place... West Village Market & Deli has been a cornerstone for foodies in my city for over 20 years. It's a tiny, independent grocery store. They have the best breakfast burritos. It's the kind of place where the staff knows your name, neighbors wave to each other across the store, and you can feel their values in every interaction and cardboard box they hand you your groceries in.

They had the heart. They had the loyal customers. But they were having a hard time translating that same nurturing, community spirit into their digital marketing.

When we overhauled their email marketing in November 2025, they would send one email a month, formatted like a sales flyer.

Beloved store. Values that run deep. But emails that felt like a coupon list.

So we changed it up. We built a holistic content strategy, did some technical email list hygiene, created strategic sequences, and increased send frequency so we had space to talk about their values and other things their people actually care about.

Six few months later, here's what happened:

• Open rate: 31% → 56.4%
• Click rate: 0.53%→2.29%

Nearly doubled the opens. More than quadrupled the click rate. Numbers way, way above their industry average. We turned their emails into something people love to open.

But the moment I knew we'd gotten it right wasn't a dashboard number. It was a note from the owner after she read one of the newsletters:

"Lark thank you so much for doing this. It's awesome… and makes me proud to own the place!!"

That's what managed marketing looks like when it's done right. Not just better metrics. A business owner who looks at their marketing and it makes them feel proud of what they do.

Good marketing is like a good bowl of ice cream.

But marketing that reminds you that you absolutely love what you do? That's the cherry on top.

🍨🍒,
Lark

P.S. We have two spots opening up soon for new Managed Marketing clients. If you want an expert in your corner to handle your marketing so you can free up your time to focus on what you love to do... now's a great time to reach out! Learn more here →​