Digital Marketing for Contractors
A podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business.
Digital Marketing for Contractors
Staying Human in the Age of AI: Trust, Authenticity & Competitive Edge
In this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Janet and Sasha wrap up our three-part AI series with a conversation about staying human in an AI-driven world. From chatbots and CRMs to automated reviews and follow-ups, AI is now built into nearly every tool contractors use. But instead of replacing people, it should be seen as a partner—freeing up time for the authentic, personal connections homeowners really value.
The hosts dive into why trust signals, reviews, team bios, and before-and-after photos still matter, and how contractors can balance automation with authenticity. With examples from big brands and real-world applications, Janet and Sasha show how AI can strengthen—not replace—the human side of your business.
Want to find out how we can create a custom digital marketing game plan for your contractor business? Schedule a call with us at fatcatstrategies.com.
Welcome to digital marketing for contractors, a podcast for home improvement contractors to help you crush your lead goals and take your business to the next level. Join us each episode as we give you powerful insights and practical tips on the best digital marketing strategies to help you grow your home improvement business. Let's get started.
Janet:Hello and welcome back. I am Janet. I am the founder of Fat Cat Strategies and today I'm so happy to be joined by one of our amazing account managers, Sasha. Sasha's never been on the podcast, so we're super pumped to have her here. Sasha, introduce yourself. Tell everybody who you are.
Sasha:Yeah, I'm so excited to be here. Never been on a podcast before. It's been a lifelong dream. Drum roll. Oh my God.
Janet:It's your first time. Okay. Yeah. We'll be nice. That's awesome. Okay, so Sasha, today what we're doing is we are wrapping up the third in a three-part series where we've been talking about AI. So last week, we talked about how digital marketing tactics are changing in this crazy, fast-paced world of AI. And if you missed last week's episode, we encourage you to go check it out because what we looked at was we looked at what is still working when it comes to online marketing in the age of AI, what stopped working, so what you should still be doing, what you should stop doing, and how all of this is playing out when it comes to lead generation for home improvement companies because AI right now is playing such a huge role on how we all use the internet. So today is this this third part in this little mini series we're doing about AI and today what we're talking about is how to stay human in the age of AI. Especially for you guys as home improvement contractors. So AI tools are everywhere. Sasha you were saying earlier you know you feel like every piece of software you fire up now has some AI component.
Sasha:There's always going to be some sort of AI aspect to it
Janet:yeah a little chat bot or some sort of
Sasha:summarized or automation some something like that it's always going to be there
Janet:yeah so these AI tools are everywhere But that doesn't mean that you have to lose your personal touch and the thing that has worked for you for so many years to get you hired by homeowners. Absolutely. So that's what we're talking about today. Yes, AI is here. It's changed search. It's changing the software. But you don't have to lose your human touch. And what we want to talk about is what does that mean in this new world? Kind of AI driven world. So Sasha, the other day we were talking and you said you felt like there were four key things for contractors to remember. Remind me of what that was. What were those four things?
Sasha:Yeah. So, I mean, there's a lot that, you know, goes into AI, but I feel like how to connect with it in today's day and age, there are pretty much four main points. So first it's people are still going to hire people. There's also trust is the new currency, so that's super important. And then also just remembering that your human story really does matter still. And knowing that AI isn't here to replace connection, it's just going to give you some time to get your time back.
Janet:Okay, so if we look at it that way, AI is really kind of part of this whole evolution of trust. How we use technology.
Sasha:Yeah, you know, I like to look at it as not... like a software, but more of a partnership. You know, a lot of contractors, I mean, we're digital marketing agencies, so we partner with a lot of contractors. And I think it's a good way to look at AI as being a partnership to help you in those aspects where maybe, you know, what we do, we give contractors back some time in their day because we take that load on. And I feel like AI kind of contributes in the same way, depending on
Janet:how you use it. Almost like a personal assistant that's going to give you minutes and hours back in your day.
Sasha:Exactly. And so many different outlets for it too.
Janet:I love that. So if you're saying, if what your thesis is for this episode is that there is a way that contractors can maintain that human touch in an AI world, and your first point is that people still hire people, tell me what you mean by that. And what does that thought have to do with AI?
Sasha:Yeah. So, you know, like at the end of the day, People who are looking for those remodeling projects or whatever you do as far as contracting goes, those homeowners are still going to want to hire people, not AI. But it's awesome if you can use it as a mode to get them there. To generate the lead. Exactly. So before you can sell and install that job, you do have to generate the lead. So AI, again, it's just a partner to help you get there. So it can help with the lead conversion, lead generation. So
Janet:it's going to help you get your foot in the door. Exactly. But that homeowner is still going to hire a human to remodel their bathroom.
Sasha:Yeah, they want to work directly with a person, not a
Janet:robot. At this point, as of July 2025, so far robots aren't putting roofs on.
Sasha:You know, I've seen them walk upstairs on some videos, but I've not seen them put any roofs on or
Janet:put on siding. It's weird. You're talking about like those...
Sasha:Like the human-like
Janet:robots. Yeah, the Boston Dynamics. Have you seen the big dog?
Sasha:I have.
Janet:It's creepy. There's one that almost looks like a dog giraffe where it's... big neck has like this arm on the end of it and they can run and anyway so I
Sasha:have not seen that but that sounds
Janet:terrifying after we record this podcast so We took a little side trip down sci-fi lane. There may be a day where robots are coming to kill all of us, but that day's not today. Good. I'm not ready to go yet. I'm not ready to go yet. And I think all of the contractors out there still want to think that they can roll up in a truck and do a job that a robot can't do. And that is still true today. But what we're saying is you can get some of your time back by leveraging AI and that homeowners want to connect with humans. But right now where AI is really kind of in your world. Just use it as a sidekick. Use it as a sidekick and it could help you generate those leads. Absolutely.
Sasha:Yeah, especially the chatbots. You know, we've seen a lot of good success with chatbots for multiple different clients. And I mean, personally, when I'm looking somewhere, if there's a chatbot, I'm going to use it before I call someone. Oh,
Janet:absolutely. And, you know, several episodes ago, we had on the founder of Heavyset, which, you know, there's a lot of AI in the heavyset tech stack um so if you guys haven't checked out heavyset i would definitely go it's an awesome software it's awesome software it's um you know there's a form component to it there's a chat component to it and depending on when this episode comes out what we have heard from the founder is they are also working on ai driven call centers so oh wow so like To your point, Sasha, you go to a website and you're not really ready to talk to somebody yet or fill out a form. Yeah, I
Sasha:just want a little bit more information
Janet:or I have a question. You're willing to interact with that chat bot, which can be driven by AI. And soon, by the end of this year, contractors could be able to have call centers staffed by what sound like humans but aren't. That's awesome. So again, that gives people time back. Yep. But it's all kind of driving towards helping a homeowner feel like, yes, this is the company that I want to hire. And so you've taken some of those tasks off of your plate to your point, giving you time back. And then that time you're going to spend in the home selling the job and installing the job.
Sasha:Right. And I feel like that can also be a little bit more cost effective, too, with having a call center that is AI. Absolutely.
Janet:And they can be 24-7. Exactly.
Sasha:Yep.
Janet:So, so I love where we're going with this. So the other thing that you said at the top of this episode, you said people still want to hire people. And then you also said trust is the new currency. What did you mean by that?
Sasha:Yeah. So it's really important that you're still able to show, you know, that you are a human company and that you have people who want to work with you and who appreciate the jobs that you've done and they appreciate want to show off your good work. So, okay, here's an example. Okay. So I don't want to go, let's say I'm going out to eat. I don't want to go to a restaurant that has two and a half stars on Google when I want good food, a good experience and nice wait staff. Why and how would I avoid a restaurant that has that rating? because of trust. You know, I want to trust that when I spend my time and money at a restaurant, I am going to have the experience that I'm looking for.
Janet:Yeah, good food, good experience. You're not going to have a GI issue later.
Sasha:Yes, yes, yes, yes. But that's a big reason why people check out reviews. Because of that trust component. Just the other day, I was scheduling a birthday dinner for a friend looking for where to make a reservation. And ultimately, it came down to the star reviews that the restaurant had. We
Janet:were in
Sasha:between a couple and the reviews really sold us on it. So, you know,
Janet:it just helps. So when you are looking online, you are looking for signals that you can trust. Yes. That the company that you put your time and energy into and money is going to deliver an experience that's valuable to you. Exactly. Exactly. And so, um, so if trust is the new currency, then, um, how does AI play into helping contractors demonstrate that they are a trustworthy company? I mean, we know it's all about the reviews, but what role does AI have in that?
Sasha:So AI can be really helpful with... Let's say you want to get a review from a job you just completed. Well, there's so many features with AI where you can just automatically, when you market in your CRM that the job was closed or the job was completed, it will go ahead and send out a text or an email to your customers asking them to leave you a review. And that's just a super easy way. You don't even have to think about it. Right. It's just going to send it out. Automate. Yep.
Janet:So automations have been around for a while, but I think what's exciting that we've really seen the landscape change just this calendar year is other software companies that serve this industry have started to incorporate more AI components into these automations to help you generate reviews. For example, one of our partners that we like to work with, Marlamar, review generation software, they've rolled out some new AI features. So I guess what I'm saying is like, I'm kind of agreeing with you that you're saying trust is the new currency. And
Sasha:AI can help you generate that trust from people you've worked with.
Janet:And do it by helping you take some tasks off of your plate that used to be more manual to give you time back.
Sasha:Again, use it as a partner.
Janet:Use it as a partner. Okay, so where are we in the story? So people still hire people. Trust is the new currency. And then you made another point at the top of the episode. I think you said, you know, in this AI world, your human story still matters to you. Tell me a little bit more about what you meant by that.
Sasha:Yeah, so essentially when someone's going to work with you, say it's a couple thousand dollar or tens of thousand dollar project, they kind of want to get a feel of who you are and who they might be working with. Um, like whether you're veteran owned, is it a family owned company, that sort of thing. Do we know who the business owner is or maybe who I'm going to be talking to on the phone? Um, so it's really important that, you know, one, you have some important team members listed on your website, um, which is that human face. Exactly. Yep. Maybe have a picture, maybe have a little bio with just some fun facts about them. Um, And yeah, so that definitely helps to show the human aspect, but also having project pictures on. I'm a sucker for a good before and after picture.
Janet:Everybody loves a good before and after.
Sasha:And those are really great for just kind of helping show those potential customers what their vision could be, or even maybe giving them some design ideas or introducing them to a new color of siding that they didn't know was out there or a new type of shake that sort of thing so it's really good for examples for showing off your work and showing that it is that quality work and
Janet:so that human story so if if online search is being more influenced by AI at least today the goal is still to get somebody to your site and So you can convert them into a lead. once they're motivated, once they start to interact with you, then that's when some AI can do the heavy lifting, either through a chat bot or an AI driven call center to help you convert that lead. Is that what you're saying?
Sasha:Exactly. And honestly, it kind of goes back to my first point that people still hire people. So yeah, you can use AI to help get you those people, but once you've got them you have to show them, you know, who you are. Right. You're not going to make friends with someone and you have no idea what their personality is. Right. You want to get to know them before you ask them for coffee.
Janet:Right. So it's kind of the same, kind of the same idea there. Before you pay somebody $60,000. Exactly. To park their truck in front of your front yard for three weeks. And
Sasha:tear something off the side of their house.
Janet:Yeah, they want to make sure. You want to know who you are. They want to make sure you're not a criminal and you're not going to destroy something. Yeah, so it's trust, it's human connection. And I think that kind of brings us to the last point that you made, and that is AI is not replacing people. It's giving us our time back. And I love what you said at the top of this episode, that if we can shift our thinking away from such a sci-fi version of what we think AI is and look at it more like a partner, a partner that can help you make decisions take some repetitive tasks off of your plate and give you some time back.
Sasha:Yeah. And it also gives you time to like actually connect with your clients and maybe show up a little bit more in your community to get that local brand awareness. So people kind of have you top of mind already. And it just gives you the areas back to run those parts of the business that really actually do need a human kind of driving the show there. Right.
Janet:Right. So automate what you can, leverage AI where you can, and then take the time that you've saved to invest back in your business.
Sasha:Yeah, and just remember, it's not erasing the human connection. It's just going to allow you to create a little bit more space to add that in.
Janet:Oh, I like the way you put that. Oh, thank you. Sasha, coming with the wisdom. So, you know, I know you work day in and day out with clients on the front lines. I don't work that closely with clients anymore. I'm now partially retired, so loving that life. But you're the one that's on the front lines with clients. What do you see that's really winning right now?
Sasha:So really, the clients who are really winning are the ones that understand the ratio of AI to human interaction and human contact. So, you know, kind of going back to what we said, they're using AI to go ahead and gather all of the data, automate that stuff that you don't really want to do, but you just kind of have to, all the boring stuff. And then they also use it to streamline their systems and just make their day-to-day easier. but they are still showing up with that human voice in their community, for their company, for their employees. You know, like for example, and I think we may have touched on this earlier, but I've seen some businesses using AI to send those automatic follow-ups, but instead of using just a templated dry message, it's just a little short video from the owner or even from their project manager who was on site. And It just gives a little bit of personality. And
Janet:those videos are somehow AI is playing a role in the production of those?
Sasha:It's sending it out. Oh. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Janet:So that feels very personal. It does. To the customer. But on the
Sasha:back end, it's AI.
Janet:It was aided by AI. That is very cool. Yeah. So gone are the days of AI. Dear customer, we appreciate your business. It's more like, hi, Susie and John, we loved installing your deck.
Sasha:Thanks for welcoming us into your home type thing. Yeah.
Janet:Yeah. Wow. With customized project pictures. That is winning. So outside of, you know, our own client base, have you seen some other things that, you know, just kind of on the internet that you feel like are real winning stories? Yes,
Sasha:I have. So I am chronically online, so I see a lot of things, but one of the biggest uses of AI that I've seen is in some well-known brands like Duolingo. Almost everyone has heard of Duolingo at this point.
Janet:I'll interrupt. In case you haven't heard of Duolingo, it's an app that will help you learn a foreign language, and it has a really cute owl mascot and lots of cartoons, and you can win all kinds of points just for learning simple words.
Sasha:Yes, it's quite fun. I am relearning I tried
Janet:to learn Spanish a couple years ago and then it was on me, not on Duolingo. Anyway, what have you seen Duolingo do?
Sasha:Yeah, so it's really cool how they're able to blend AI with personality in a way that feels, I mean, to me at least, super intentional. You know, the AI might be recommending my next lesson or, you know, helping me purchase a new product. Like I've seen it at Sephora too, when I'm shopping online. What is Sephora? Sephora is a makeup store. It's a big brand makeup store, but you know, so they might be recommending that or helping you find what you want using an AI assistant, but it sounds like a person is talking to you. It's got all of the same verbiage, the same inflections.
Janet:And it's based on your previous purchases and things that you've looked at, say on the Sephora site.
Sasha:Yeah.
Unknown:Yeah.
Sasha:Or
Janet:on the Duolingo lessons that you've, like, it's kind of tailored to your journey.
Sasha:Yeah, I mean, I feel like maybe people are a little bit more familiar with things like Amazon. So, you know, Amazon has Rufus, their AI assistant that they use. And it, yeah, so when I use it on Amazon, it recognizes my past purchases. And I can be like, can you tell me when I purchased this product? This book bag.
Janet:I am going to have to admit publicly and vulnerably that I don't know what Rufus is.
Sasha:Oh, Janet. And I order... It's like Claude AI. It's like ChatGPT,
Janet:but it's Amazon's version. But I order an obscene amount of stuff from Amazon. Well, how have you not seen it?
Unknown:I don't know.
Janet:Because I'm old and infirm, I think. Well, you're not that old. I'm not. I didn't... Where does it
Sasha:show up? Does it just pop up? Usually it has like a little bubble that says... I don't remember exactly what it says, but something like, Rufus is here to help you. And then it also
Janet:has- I've never seen that.
Sasha:You know, like the little sparkle? Usually it's in the top corner. That's the AI.
Janet:Okay.
Sasha:So if you click it, it'll help you.
Janet:Okay. I've never clicked it. What I have noticed- Give it a shot next time. Is that it will recommend sizes for me.
Sasha:Oh, I've not seen that.
Janet:That's cool. So if I'm looking at a pair of shorts, it's like- Based on your previous orders, we think you should order a large.
Sasha:Oh, that's pretty neat. I'm
Janet:like, okay. All right, let's see. Extra large, but whatever. You
Sasha:think you know me.
Janet:You think you do. But honestly, when I've gone with the size recommendations based on my previous orders, it's worked. It's worked. So I'm going to have to check out Rufus. So I guess bringing this back to contractors, you know, Things have changed so fast just this calendar year. Oh
Sasha:my gosh, it's crazy.
Janet:I mean, the pace of change has just been insane. And we've seen... online lead generation tactics, you know, based on search engine results have changed dramatically just in the past six months. And in the past four months, I'd say almost every piece of software that we interact with that you guys who are listening interact with as well, whether it's your CRM or some text-based marketing software or review generation software, I'm struggling to think of a single piece of software that hasn't incorporated some AI assistant into it.
Sasha:Yeah, that would take some thinking.
Janet:Yeah, I can't think of it. To try
Sasha:and figure it out.
Janet:Yeah, it seems like every day I log on to something, there's a new little AI bot that pops up. I
Sasha:mean, even Gmail now.
Janet:Yeah, they're summarizing. And in our internal staff Gchat, the most hilarious thing I can do is be out of the office for the day. What did it say when you got back? Oh, God. It's like, it's always like... There's usually cookies on the table and then people are, you know, complaining about the air conditioning. I
Sasha:remember one time there, yeah, someone messaged something about cookies in the kitchen and then someone goes, oh, I'm going to be a cookie monster. And it goes, this person was a cookie monster for the cookies.
Janet:Yeah, that was the AI summary in our small team Google team chat. So to wrap it all up, You guys are hardworking. You're out there sometimes working in the sun, in the weather, installing roofs, installing siding, remodeling bathrooms, selling jobs, talking to homeowners. AI is here right now, not to kill us that we think. It could eventually. We've all seen Terminator. But for now, it seems like it's here to give us some time back and take some routine tasks off of our plate. Yep. And so what you can do to stay human in this age of AI is show your face, literally. Yep. You know, add team photos and bios to your website. So you're going to be leveraging AI search to drive traffic to your site, but when you get somebody on your site...
Sasha:Show them who you are. Show them who you are.
Janet:This is not new, but Lord, if it isn't more important. Get serious about reviews. Day in and day out, it just keeps getting more important. Yep, yep. Because I would say, like... In this world, where now everybody's sort of aware of more AI-generated content, we're even more cautious, maybe with our time and money, and we really want to see that you are a locally-owned company that's delivered good experiences for people.
Sasha:Yep. And you know what? Another thing, if you search ChatGPT for, say, best home remodelers near me, sometimes it will pull from aggregators like... yelp or house or expertise and it goes off of the reviews who's rated yeah who's top rated oh
Janet:my god
Sasha:that's that's just one of the ways that it pulls but i didn't even think about that yep we've been i mean internally you know you've been out living your life but i have been living my semi-retired doing so much work to figure out why are you showing up why is this company showing up but this company isn't in those chat in those prompts yep we're asking chat why did you show this person and not this person or this company and not that yes yes and it gives us a list you know they were rated higher here on multiple sites or they were official on the BBB website. So lots
Janet:of different places it pulls in. So as homeowners start to shift where they search for answers, let's say they're no longer... as frequently firing up a Google browser, and instead they go straight to ChatGPT and say, who is the best bathroom remodeling contractor in my city? ChatGPT is going to reference online reviews and aggregate them.
Sasha:And online listings as well.
Janet:And listings and directories, and use that information as a way to recommend who is the quote-unquote best contractor. roofing contractor in your town or bathroom remodeler in your town.
Sasha:Yeah. And you know what? That's another cool thing that we've been doing internally for our clients is using AI to help us clean up those directories across the entire internet, making sure that your name is consistent across the internet, making sure that your address is the same, your phone number. And it would be really time consuming for us to go in and do it for every individual listing, but we've been using AI to help us with that, which which is awesome.
Janet:Okay, this might make us sound schizophrenic and like we're talking out of both sides of our face, but I think the lesson is you got to stay human in this world, but also you need to recognize that a lot of your content online, you're writing it and positioning it for the
Sasha:robots. Which is a big shift in the SEO strategy.
Janet:Yeah. We're writing for the robots, so the robots can then recommend your company back to real people. Exactly. So we have to appeal to the robots and then also to the humans. Yep. Wow. Brave new world. Brave, crazy new world. Well, as always, our job is to stay on top of this stuff, bring you the insights as we figure them out, and share them with you. The internet is changing. It's changing fast. AI is playing. I mean, I think everybody thought AI was the story of 2024. I really think it's the story of 2025. Like, legit this time. Yeah, I
Sasha:think she's just going to keep growing. Yeah, absolutely. Every year there will be something new out there.
Janet:At this pace, it's like every month. Yeah, seriously. It's not every week. So if you enjoyed this episode, we would love it if you would give us a review. Please. Please give us a review. Share it with your friends and colleagues and subscribe so that you will be notified of future episodes. And as always, our goal is if you will give us 20 or 30 minutes, we will try to give you actionable insights on what it takes to win online and generate leads and promote your company online. So you can generate more revenue through your home improvement business. That's our goal. That's what we're here to do. We appreciate you listening for another episode. Like us, subscribe, refer us to a friend, and we'll see you on the next episode. Bye. Bye-bye.
Speaker 00:Digital Marketing for Contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatcatstrategies.com.