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
Fall 2025 Home Improvement Industry & Digital Marketing News Roundup
In this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Janet and Caitlyn break down the headlines, market shifts, and digital marketing updates shaping the home improvement industry heading into 2026. Fall 2025 brought a mix of encouraging wins—like a 20-year high in women’s employment across the construction industry—and some shocking shakeups, most notably the abrupt overnight closure of Renovo Home Services, a private-equity-backed roll-up that included iconic brands like Reborn Cabinets, DreamStyle Remodeling, NewPro, and more. The fallout? Nearly 3,000 jobs lost and homeowners across multiple states left mid-project with demos, dumpsters, and zero communication.
Janet and Caitlyn explain what happened, why private equity flocked to the industry during the pandemic boom, and what caused the entire structure to collapse once growth normalized. They also discuss how contractors can proactively use content marketing to rebuild trust in shaken markets—especially messaging around reliability, local ownership, and what to do if your contractor disappears.
Then, they shift to new survey data shaping expectations for 2026. According to the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, remodeler growth next year should be slow, steady, and predictable—a welcome change after several years of extreme swings. Aging home inventory, high home equity, and the “improve-don’t-move” trend continue to drive demand. Meanwhile, new NAHB data shows that homeowners are now prioritizing comfort and lifestyle upgrades over ROI, meaning contractors should rethink how they talk about value.
Finally, the duo dives into rapid-fire digital marketing updates—including OpenAI’s new Atlas browser, the AI-powered tool that can summarize pages, automate research tasks, and reshape daily workflow for marketers and contractors.
It’s a packed, practical episode filled with insights, warnings, and opportunities to help home improvement companies stay steady, strategic, and competitive heading into 2026.
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.
Caitlyn Noble:Thanks for joining us for our fall 2025 news roundup, the episode where we sift through all the headlines, data, trends, and digital marketing changes that actually matter for the home improvement industry.
Janet Mobley:So summer gave us rising lead costs, product delays, a lot of digital marketing platform updates. And fall is bringing its own kind of interesting mix of good news, some shifts, and a couple of eyebrow-raising shocker headlines.
Caitlyn Noble:I'm so I love the fall, but I'm I'm kind of happy to see it kind of wrap up. So let's bring your coffee. If you drink coffee, grab your water, your site checklist. This is your website checklist, your Google Ads dashboard, whatever fuels you, and let's go ahead and get into it.
Janet Mobley:Okay. So the first part of this news wrap-up, we're going to talk about some things that are happening in the industry. Caitlin, hit me with our first industry news headline.
Caitlyn Noble:All right. So this past fall, we were super excited to hear from ProRemodeler that women's employment and construction hit a 20-year high. What? I know, such great news, particularly so close to our hearts, as we are also a women-owned business. So, Janet, like super excited about this.
Janet Mobley:What does this mean? Well, honestly, I think this is a long time coming. The industry is opening up in all of the ways that it should. And more women in project management roles, operations roles, skills trades, leadership roles, you name it. I think that's a good thing.
Caitlyn Noble:I think it's awesome. The report says a big driver is the labor shortage. Companies are widening recruiting strategies, investing in training pathways, and making job descriptions more inclusive as they always should have.
Janet Mobley:Yeah, and we're seeing this across our client base. More women are stepping into estimating jobs, uh, marketing. Honestly, they've always been in the marketing job. But now they're doing more inside sales and even some field supervision. Again, I think it's healthy for the industry. Yes. And I think that, you know, getting diversity is going to help with some decision making and some stronger teams. And, you know, so we're seeing this in our client base. And I've I think I've mentioned it here on the podcast that my brother owns a really successful commercial HVAC company, which is not exactly home improvement, but it's still in the trades. And he was just telling me, we just got back from the Thanksgiving holiday, that for the first time in close to 30 years, he's now got really skilled HVAC techs that are females, that they're driving around in vans and fixing air conditioners in hospitals and schools and universities and YMCAs. And he's actually super excited about it. Oh, that's right. He says that they bring, you know, like they're bringing the skill, but they also bring a little bit of a different temperament. So women in the trades, we love.
Caitlyn Noble:We love big win for the industry. Okay. We would uh we we can't get through the fall of 2025 and not bring up this next headline that has absolutely um shocked, rattled uh, I think the industry. Janet, I'm gonna let you kind of break it down.
Janet Mobley:Yeah, so this next industry headline, like Caitlin said, is a shocker. And I'm gonna say I was shocked. Sure. Like, like jaw open. What? Did I call you? I call I at least texted you. You called or texted me, and then I was like, wait, what? WTF, what is happening? But I find this um story both sad and also fascinating because it has to do with private equity, which, you know, I've you know, we've seen it impact our clients and our lives, and I'm just sort of fascinated by the role that it's currently playing in really the entire United States economy and so many different sectors. So, what's the headline? In early November 2025, Renovo Home Services abruptly, and I'm gonna underline abruptly, yeah, overnight, shut down. And I think it's fair to say that this news sent shockwaves through the industry. For those of you who don't know, Renovo Home Services was the parent company of some of the biggest and most well-known names in home improvement. This includes Reborn Cabinets, Dream Style Remodeling, New Pro Home Solutions, Remodel USA, Woodbridge Home Solutions, and Minerva Minnesota Rusco. Many of these companies were 50 to 75 years old, and before they sold to private equity, they were proud multi-generation family businesses.
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah, it's shocking. I was just on a client call and um, you know, they said it was the talk of the top 500 event that was either last week or the week before.
Janet Mobley:Um, so your client went to that event. Yeah. Oh, I'm sure everybody there was talking about it.
Caitlyn Noble:It was the talk of it. And um, I mean, because all of these brands were were looked up to. We looked up to the brands. We did, absolutely. They were on my list of like, I mean, what are they doing? Aspirational brands. Absolutely. Um, and they just disappeared overnight. Um, and so based on some sources that I've read, uh, total job loss across all of the companies is close to 3,000 people.
Janet Mobley:Yeah, that's why I said like this story is both shocking and sad. And on a personal note, I would argue unnecessary. Really? Well, why would you say that? So, okay, so this is not an economics podcast, and I will be the first to say that I am not a finance person or an economist, but I do have opinions about private equity. And if I can't share sassy opinions on my own podcast, then what is the point? So, to get into it, over the past five years, we here at Fat Cat have seen private equity make a huge play for successful privately owned home improvement companies that include many of our clients. So if you're listening to this, this shouldn't be news to you. So, like I said, many of our anchor clients sold to private equity just in the last like 18 months. Yes. So, on the one hand, we are always super excited for these owners because we know how hard they worked to get to a position where they could sell. And I know how proud they were to be able to exit from the business and leave it in such in a way that the business was still running, still part of their community, and still creating jobs. So that's the sunny side of selling to private equity when it works. But the Renovo story is the dark side of private equity. So there's a great article on the Neri website that's the National Association of Remodeling. Uh I don't even know what the I stands for. I just always call it NARI. Anyway, go to the Neri website and we'll put a link to this article in the show notes. And there's a fantastical, fantastic article about the rise and fall of Renovo that really I think does a good job of breaking this down. So if you haven't read it, like I said, check out the show notes. So I'm just gonna cover like what we've read about it and kind of explain at the highest level what happened and what we think the fallout is. So, first I want to talk a little bit about why did private equity show up to the home improvement party in the first daggum place?
Caitlyn Noble:That to your the I mean, it could be its own series of podcast episodes.
Janet Mobley:So, why did private equity, why was it suddenly felt like I mean, Caitlin, you and I you and I have been serving this industry for years. Yeah, yeah. And it felt like out of the blue, all of our clients were telling us that they're getting called by private equity with offers.
Caitlyn Noble:Right after the pandemic.
Janet Mobley:It was kind of in the middle of the pandemic. Right, right, right, right, right. So it wasn't random. So back around 2019, 2020, especially during the pandemic, remodelers were absolutely crushing it. We saw that with our own clients. We're talking about 30, 40, sometimes 50% year over year growth. The leads were pouring in, the margins were healthy, and homeowners were throwing money at their houses. At the same time, interest rates were basically zero. So that created a situation where investors had piles of cheap money sitting around looking for a place to be invested. So those investors needed a place to put all that money, and remodeling looked like the next big thing. So when the private equity firm saw that these, you know, larger regional remodeling companies were growing consistently and they were profitable, they started knocking on the owner's doors and writing checks that were hard to turn down. And businesses that used to sell for maybe three or five times their earnings suddenly were getting offers for eight, ten, or twelve times their earnings. So, you know, I get it. If you look at this from the business owner's perspective, it totally makes sense. These owners spent decades of their lives building these companies. That's decades of hard decisions, late nights, weekends, hard labor. In many instances, these are craftspeople that were working outside in the weather to get these businesses going. Then suddenly somebody comes along, knocks on their door, and offers them a life-changing payday. And here's the kicker the offer came with the promise to stay open under the same name with the same employee. So the owner gets to cash out with this eye-watering check, and the company gets to live on what's not to like.
Caitlyn Noble:I'll pause you just for a second. We have a previous episode, if you haven't listened to it, with Chris Edelin, and he does talk about exiting his company.
Janet Mobley:Yes, and he did it successfully. Yes, and it's not a horror story. So you can hear it from the horse's mouth. And his advice and insights on how to prep to sell. Yes. So sorry to pause, but definitely listen to that if this is something you're interested in.
Caitlyn Noble:But yes, sorry, go ahead, Janet.
Janet Mobley:So with Renovo, again, it's this private equity looking for a place to to to invest and make an ROI. The idea was to roll up a bunch of these well-known regional remodelers into one massive national platform, and they were shooting for a billion-dollar company. But here's the trick and here's the trap, and it is a debt trap. And that's where things get dicey. Private equity deals are usually funded with borrowed money and a lot of it. So when these companies get bought out this way, they are suddenly carrying all that acquisition debt on their own books. So basically, the company is now paying for the privilege of being purchased. And that only works if the revenue keeps climbing fast enough to cover the debt payments. And when the growth was 30, 40, 50% a year, that math looked fantastic. But then we saw it, Caitlin. We we felt it personally in our own little agency where we just saw those leads sort of taper off in 2023 and 2024. Well, when that demand leveled off, that private equity math didn't make as much sense anymore. So again, according to Neri's reporting, once that explosive growth was gone, the companies that had looked unstoppable just a few years ago suddenly couldn't keep up with their debt obligations. So instead of generating cash, they were scrambling just to make interest payments. And honestly, the money part of it, and I've wondered about this, and this is where we've seen it with some of our clients that will remain unnamed. The money part of it is only part of the story. The other part is cultural. These are companies that started off like you know, owner operated, scrappy, and then suddenly they're owned by some bigger corporation and being mashed up with other brands that they don't have anything in common with. So you could have an old school craftsman shop get combined with another company that's just a high-volume retail operation. That's two different cultures. Definitely. And now you're trying to get them together under one administrative umbrella, and then there's all these regional differences. So when these owners sold, they were told the same thing by private equity. They said, Hey, we're gonna buy you because you're excellent. We don't want to change you. We just want to give you more resources. Correct. Which sounds so sexy.
Caitlyn Noble:Oh, of course it does.
Janet Mobley:But again, according to the reports that we've read, that message turned to chaos pretty quickly when the demand started to back off. So the new private equity equity backed owners in the Renovo story, they expected these performance numbers that match the crazy pandemic growth numbers. And when the numbers didn't materialize, the pressure built. So to be clear, I'm almost done with my tirade. We, Fat Cat, did not work directly with any of the companies that Renovo bought. But we have had our own encounters with private equity in the last 24 months. And for the most part, it's been positive, positive, but not drama-free. Sure. And I'm just gonna leave it at that. I think the saddest part of this whole thing is the black mark that it leaves on the industry.
Caitlyn Noble:Absolutely.
Janet Mobley:In Boston, where New Pro was located, we saw local TV news stories that were posted online of homeowners that have dumpsters sitting in their driveway, they've paid their deposits, their homes are torn apart, and the workers just suddenly walked off the job. I mean, that is fantastic local news. It's terrible for the industry. Terrible. So these 50 plus year old businesses that had deep roots and roots in their community, it's like they just vaporized overnight. And the customers who paid deposits and the employees who are looking for answers all found the same thing locked doors, empty parking lots, and unanswered calls. So I mean, I don't want to make this like the most negative podcast, but I just I think it's been kind of crazy with private equity in the industry, and I hope that the ball the I hope the steam is coming out of it. And this story kind of um tamps things down a little bit. But I worry that for these markets where these big companies just shut their doors overnight in those geographies. I worry that the remaining locally owned, reputable companies may have a hard time winning back the trust of local homeowners.
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah, I I agree with that. I would also say for our clients, the way we've addressed this, as we do have clients all over the country as well, is we're encouraging, you know, content to be published on your website that is something along the lines of what to do when your contractor stops responding. So say why you're the expert, say signs of you know what you can do to combat that if unfortunately, you know, there's another company in your area.
Janet Mobley:So you're hitting it from a lead gen, eh? Absolutely. So these homeowners that are left holding the bag, they still need their project completed. And you want okay, smart.
Caitlyn Noble:And also, I mean, tell the keep telling the story. I mean, we're gonna have several episodes, you know, to continue to talk about this and the way AI is changed and everything, but you have to tell your company's story, define your brand, whether you're a part of a, you know, a another private equity, you know, big roll-up for whatever. I mean, you've got to own your identity for the companies who have come out of this, which a ton have.
Janet Mobley:And I think you're right. I think there are opportunities there. And especially for the companies that are established but still locally owned.
Caitlyn Noble:Yes.
Janet Mobley:I think that that as a marketing message is stronger than it's ever been.
Caitlyn Noble:Absolutely. Locally owned.
Janet Mobley:Okay, so I'm gonna get down off of my soapbox and I'm gonna quit preaching. Yeah. I mean, it was just like I mean, I literally called Jen.
Caitlyn Noble:I it was like It was like the shot heard round the world. And then I sent the news article, and then like the within like the next day, day, 24 hours, websites were down. It was just, it was shocking.
Janet Mobley:And and hey, you know, but I mean, I I hope there's a lot of lessons to be learned in the industry. And what I really hope is I hope all the talented folks who did nothing wrong, who were working for those companies, find a soft landing somewhere else. Absolutely.
Caitlyn Noble:Um, and I know there's a lot of resources out there to help those people find find new work. Find new work. Okay, so what's news?
Janet Mobley:Now what's next?
Caitlyn Noble:Hit me, what's the next thing we're talking about? So I mean, the last headline to really talk about like the industry that was impacted, you know, over the past quarter, um, you know, in terms of the home improvement. Sorry, it took me a second to spit that out. Uh we we have to talk about the government did shut down. It's over now, of course, um, which is some broader economic news. But yes, the federal government did shut down, and that dragged on almost throughout the entire fall. Uh, Janet, you know, tell tell us a little bit about what Yeah, so builders and remodelers definitely felt that one.
Janet Mobley:There's permitting delays, disruption in the release of housing market data. And I really think the bigger thing was not like I mean, I don't know that anybody in our clients are sitting around going, what's the housing market data? But what they did feel was a decline in consumer confidence. Absolutely feeling it. I think we're still in a in a mood, in a mode right now where consumers are like cautiously optimistic. It probably depends on who you ask.
Caitlyn Noble:And tie that back to that locally owned, what's the content you're putting on your website to make sure um your audience trusts you is the spend. Sorry. I yeah, Janet, you just talked more than I did, and I can't even speak. So um, but the good news is like we said, things are normalizing, backlogs in some regions may still impact project timelines on into Q1 of 2026. And Janet, how should contractors communicate?
Janet Mobley:Yeah, I mean, if if um I guess if you're doing any government contracts, if there's anything, you know, related to the government shutdown that has impacted your business, um, I think just communicating with your with your clients and your homeowners, like transparent open communication is the way to go here.
Caitlyn Noble:So those were some pretty big fall 2025 news headlines. We're gonna now jump into some survey results and market data uh that also came out over the past few months. Janet, you want to go into the first one?
Janet Mobley:Yeah, so this is a great segue because you know, we just talked about some kind of gloomy stuff, but looking ahead, one of my favorite sources is the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. They do such amazing work really looking at all the trends that are impacting new home builders, remodelers, they slice and dice the data a million different ways. If you are not aware of this website, it's free and there's tons of data. So the Harvard Joint Center. For Housing Studies, which is a mouthful, has just released an update predicting slow but steady. Yes. So I'm going to focus on steady growth for remodeling next year.
Caitlyn Noble:2026, baby, right around the corner. It's obviously not the boom years that we saw during COVID, but definitely not a downturn either. Yeah, praise. Think of it as stable demand, fewer extreme swings, which we have so felt, and growth that's predictable and healthier long term.
Janet Mobley:Yeah. And so again, according to this Harvard Center, the driving forces behind this, and this is also not new. This has been the same story for the you know the past 10 years that we've been following. Aging home. The aging home inventory in the United States is driving opportunity to fix up those homes. So aging homes, equity in the homes, and homeowners choosing to improve instead of move.
Caitlyn Noble:Yes. So this is a good reminder if you're listening. Uh, we are telling this to our clients right now as we're planning 2026 goals. Your leads may not skyrocket. I wouldn't plan on them skyrocketing into 2026, but they should stay consistent if your marketing stays consistent. You cannot stop your marketing. Just don't stop your marketing.
Janet Mobley:I think steady and stable is gonna be the theme of 2026. And, you know, it's not the wild ride that it was in the middle of COVID, but in many ways that might actually be not in every way, but in some ways, it could be easier to manage because when you've got these wild swings in demand, it's really hard to keep up with that from a hiring perspective, from ordering products, from scheduling projects. So slow and steady goes having into 2026.
Caitlyn Noble:Um, one more interesting uh bit of marca market data. Um, I love when we record these at the end of the day. When all your words are so crisp and sharp. But this is actually another really good uh bit of information. It comes from um the NAHB, which is the NAS National Association of Home Builders, that the top factor driving home values this year, this past year, isn't renovations, finishes, or square footage. Janet, what is it?
Janet Mobley:According to the NAHB, it's location-based amenities and infrastructure improvements.
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah. Okay, so this is such an important point for contractors. Homeowners are starting projects for comfort, personalization, and lifestyle improvements, not purely for ROI. That's definitely a change.
Janet Mobley:I I mean, I think Yeah, I think, you know, there is a time, I'm thinking like 15 years ago, we had a bath client and we used to do a lot of marketing around um if you put X into a bathroom model, what could you expect out in Y when you sell? Like if you spend $10,000 or $30,000 remodeling your bath, yeah, how much is that gonna add to the sale price of your home? Well, what the NAHB is saying is like homeowners are not necessarily looking to get that money back out when they sell because they're not selling, they're not going anywhere. So they want to be able to enjoy their renovations. Um so when you're talking to uh your clients, um, what are you telling them about the marketing message messages that they can they can use this information to pivot how they have conversations with homeowners? What are you telling them?
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah, yeah, no, 100%. So, I mean, instead of marketing uh along the lines of, you know, exactly like Janet said, like, hey, you know, this is going to increase your home's value, um talk about like how's this gonna make your everyday life easier? You're gonna be able to age safely in your home. Um, you know, how is this going to improve the use of your home? Um, something along the lines of just like, is this just going to make my life and my family's life?
Janet Mobley:Yeah, it's about enjoy it, enjoying the home that you have, staying in it, living your best life in it, not necessarily trying to squeeze the resale value out of which, you know, I think for home improvement projects, I mean, setting aside um hard numbers and data, I think it can make those projects more fun for the homeowners and for the contractors. Because then you're picking colors, you're picking finishes, you're making choices based on your own personal enjoyment. Yeah. Not guessing what you think the next buyer, you know, it wants to see.
Caitlyn Noble:It's so funny you say that, and I I hope this ties back, but I'm seeing more homes right now in my neighborhood, and my neighborhood's 30, 35 years old, that the homes haven't really that are on going on the market haven't really been updated because they're allowing the next home buyer buyer to customize it to the way that they like it. I mean, I you know what I mean?
Janet Mobley:Like, that's is that part of the um negotiation? Like, is there an allowance, a remodeling allowance or something?
Caitlyn Noble:That's true. When we bought our home, there was. Yeah. Yeah.
Janet Mobley:So that way you're not like picking the most generic countertops, the most generic colors, the most generic whatever.
Caitlyn Noble:Sure. I I still have a bathroom from the 1990s.
Janet Mobley:I got you beat. I got one from 1957.
Caitlyn Noble:But those are two really good, important um, you know, survey results that did come out of definitely about where to expect the industry to go next year.
Janet Mobley:Yeah, so I think uh sorry, I stepped on your line. Go ahead. I think the summary there to bring it on home. Sure. In my opinion, this is not the NAHB's opinion. In my opinion, I think the implosion of Renovo has taken the the like crazy manic energy and steam out of private equity in this industry. And in my opinion, I think that's a good thing. And I think 2026, we're gonna get back to slow and steady growth that this is what this industry has been built on for correct decades. Correct. Decades. Yes. I think what happened during the pandemic and then the the feeding frenzy that became private equity as a result of it, yeah. I think that was a blip on the radar. And now we're gonna go back to something that feels a little bit more stable, predictable.
Caitlyn Noble:Yes, absolutely. Um y'all, this has been a long one. If you're still hanging with us, this is the last section, and I think it's a good one. Um, definitely something to definitely stick around. Yeah, stick around. Um, we've got digital marketing platform updates. As we've mentioned, I mean, we're obviously a digital marketing agency. The it changes every day.
Janet Mobley:Oh my gosh. The pace of change is insane. So yes, leaving the industry news, yes, moving on to digital marketing, let's start with a big one. Uh huh. Open AI, that's the company behind Chat GPT. Correct. OpenAI has released an AI-powered web browser called Atlas. Yes. So, as a reminder, what is a web browser? If you think about firing up Chrome to search on something, or if you're on Safari, on Apple, Safari, for you older listeners out there, uh Firefox. You might have Firefox installed. So that's what a browser is. And the the company that brought you Chat GPT has now released Atlas, a new browser. Yes. I am gonna be the old person in the conversation and admit I have not used this. So, Caitlin, tell us about Atlas.
Caitlyn Noble:I'll I'll gladly um tell you about it. And in fact, I've got it pulled up right here. Um scary. I I mean, and our note, my notes aren't on it, but it's pretty amazing. It's it's wild. Um, it can summarize pages, it can help you research, it can automate tasks. What do you mean by automate tasks?
Janet Mobley:Like your browser is automating tasks.
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah, I mean, like I could let my browser know. I mean, literally, and and to Janet's point, if I pulled up Google Chrome right now, which is how I'm reading our show notes, uh like it's just a Google Doc. But if I was to go right now to uh this this Atlas browser and say, Hey, I need to help prioritize my day. Hey, I have, you know, a list of um interview questions that I might need to answer. How do I automate that like in a more efficient way?
Janet Mobley:And you're doing that while you're like, let's say I'm just gonna let's just let's just roll with this. Yeah, let's I'll do it live. We're gonna lean hard into Janet being the old person in the room and Caitlin knowing the new stuff. Oh, well, here we are. So yeah, challenge me. So let's say I am, let's say I need to, I don't know, book a flight. Okay. Could I use the Atlas browser to search for, let's make it easy. Let's say I'm gonna go directly to Southwest Airlines. You don't even have to go to Southwest Air Airlines.
Caitlyn Noble:I don't go to the website anymore. No. See? I've pulled, yeah, no, it just I've I've pulled up the browser and I can just literally start typing or asking it whatever I want to do. Say help me book a flight on Southwest. Help me book a flight on Southwest. Boom. It took 10 seconds. Great. I can help you step by step book a flight on Southwest Airlines. First, I'll walk you through how to do it, and then we'll get started. What you need, it tells me everything. I'm gonna need to know where we're going.
Janet Mobley:Yeah.
Caitlyn Noble:Then it tells me how to book the flight. I mean, it's amazing.
Janet Mobley:That is that's not a that's not the browser experience that we've all been trained to do like this. Oh my god, let me fire up a browser, let me figure out, I'm gonna get a bunch of different options. So what do you think that means for homeowners searching for home improvement? And then part B of that question, what does it mean for our digital marketing strategy? If people are no longer getting a list of roofing companies search results on Google, right, and they're going directly to Atlas and saying, I need to um update my kitchen. And I live in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Caitlyn Noble:Correct.
Janet Mobley:I'm guessing it's gonna be a similar experience where it's gonna like spit out some instructions and maybe recommend some local companies.
Caitlyn Noble:Yes, I think this is a really good reminder that AI doesn't read your website that the way humans do. It reads structure, clarity, and consistency. So to answer your question though, Janet, your brand reputation and reviews, along with how clear your website is, is more important than ever because of AI and this an an Atlas. What do you mean by brand reputation? So I mean, reviews are always gonna matter, but making sure you've got an identity, you know, in terms of, you know, yes, you're a home improvement company, but what ki kind of home improvement company are you? You know, it like it's things like that that are becoming more and more important because somebody I I challenge you right now, if you are looking for a kitchen remodeler, companies that may not have a kitchen directly defined within their brand on their website, you're not gonna show up. Does that make sense?
Janet Mobley:Maybe okay, so what I think you're saying is let's say that you're a company, Acme Remodeling. Yes, and you do kitchens, you're you love doing kitchens, but uh maybe over the past two years you told your marketing company we want more bath leads. Yeah. And so much about your website is all about bathrooms, and there's not that much about kitchens, even though you do a lot of kitchens. That's correct. Suddenly what you're saying is the AI bots just don't think you do kitchens.
Caitlyn Noble:That's correct. It it wouldn't be as relevant as somebody else within that area that you might be looking for, a kitchen remodeler for your business to show up. And that's another reason why, as you're asking for reviews, it's so important to have um your customers say exactly what the project they did that you did for them.
Janet Mobley:Because like if you're a painting company, you want the homeowner to not say, Oh, you know, Acme Painting did a great job. You want them to say, Acme Painting did a fantastic job painting the exterior of my home, and they took special care around the windows.
Caitlyn Noble:Yeah, absolutely. Um, so it's it's gonna be really interesting. Um, again, just you know, to Janet, to your point, I mean, you're not using it. A lot of people still don't really know about Atlas. Uh, you know, Google Chrome is tried and true, Safari's tried and true, Firefox is tried and true. Um, I mean, we're also running ads on different on those different search like platforms as well. Um, but I'll be interested to see so what happens.
Janet Mobley:So tying this back in with some industry news from earlier, so the NAHB, based on the aging inventory of homes in the United States and and where people are with how they want to remodel, I think 2026 is gonna be sort of this interesting juxtaposition between sort of a more normal demand on the consumer demand side, and then on the marketing side, the way those consumers find vendors. Right. So you're gonna have like a more like a less manic, less crazy homeowner that's just throwing money at trucks riding down their street, which is what was happening during the pandemic. I mean, our clients would tell us that homeowners would like come out and like hand them their phone number through the window. Yeah, that's not happening anymore. But on the other side, the internet is changing so it's like this weird black and white cookie kind of thing. The demand is getting more normal while digital marketing is got has gone like crazy with change, like sci-fi change.
Caitlyn Noble:I mean, just to give you guys one more example, if you're still listening, I mean you're listening, they are like just wrapped with attention, I mean, I pulled up the uh Chat GPT Atlas browser and it just says ask anything, just so you guys know. And I just wrote, I need to remodel my bathroom. Here's a change. If I was to type I need to remodel my bathroom into Google right now, I'd get all ads. All ads, I would get a map, pack, etc. This is now telling me step by step, you asked me about the task side of things, of how to remodel my bathroom myself.
Janet Mobley:Yeah. So if I were the homeowner and I didn't own a single tool, then I guess my next thing would be to refine my search to say I don't swing hammers. I don't mean no me no hang sheet rock.
Caitlyn Noble:Exactly. So so I guess that's another, like, I mean, one positive, you know, in the favor of still being really relevant on Google. Right.
Janet Mobley:Google isn't going anywhere just yet. Speaking of. Okay, what's next? Oh, you got another news headline for me. Thanks for keeping me on track.
Caitlyn Noble:No, no, no, no, no. This is so good. Um, last news headline, and then we'll let you guys go. Um, Google has expanded their inside AI mode testing.
Janet Mobley:What does that mean?
Caitlyn Noble:Uh that sounded weird even as it came out. Um, and it's for advertisers. So this is the feature that helps generate ad copy, assemble keywords, and even suggest landing page elements.
Janet Mobley:Okay, so this is AI not for the public, like the the browsing public. It's AI for the administrators of online ads.
Caitlyn Noble:Yes, which okay what's scary to me is you know, this could be one of Google's ways of trying to control, I mean, everything. Oh, we've seen it before. Totally seen it before. Yeah.
Janet Mobley:Do you remember that one time that um oh my gosh, you I probably blocked it out. We we didn't plan for me to tell the story on this podcast, but I'm gonna tell it. Listener, be wary of Google. Yes. If you're not already wary of them, be wary. Especially the ad sales reps. I think this new inside AI that they're rolling out, to me, as the old codger in the room, just feels like same shit, different day where Google is trying to figure out how to pull the most dollars out of your wallet. And you remember when the ad sales reps would call us relentlessly as the agency on record. And there was one weekend, and this was years and years ago, where they got Caitlin on the phone and they were like, oh my gosh, this this thing, this new button, it's the best button ever. You must do this button.
Caitlyn Noble:They were emailing the client and were like, your agency needs to do this.
Janet Mobley:Oh yeah. Google will email you and say, if your agency is not doing, you know, whiz-banggy thing number seven, yeah, then you're missing the boat. Well, we clicked that daggum button at Google's instruction. And so they were inside the ad account and they were like, hey, you're missing leads, you're missing conversions. Do this thing and let it run over the weekend. Thousands. Thousands of dollars gone. Gone in from our client's wallet into Google's bank account. Did Google ever call not an additional lead generated? No leads. No additional leads.
Caitlyn Noble:It was the weekend, too.
Janet Mobley:So Google will roll out this stuff in their ad platform and they'll tell people, hey, this is the best thing since sliced bread. Pay us more money and put it in your account, and all good things will happen. And so I say proceed with caution.
Caitlyn Noble:Well, correct. And this goes back to just the last headline as well. AI can help you brainstorm, but it does not understand your margins, your product mix, your service area, or how to qualify homeowners or your business goals. It doesn't. So that's where humans come in. So yes, this is a new tool to use if you have an agency. Um, I would ask them if they're using this tool on in Google Ads because I would be curious to see if how maybe inaccurate some of the headlines are.
Janet Mobley:Yeah. So I mean you could end up having this AI bot generate paid ad headlines for things that you don't sell in towns that you don't service. Uh yep. And Lord knows they'll spend your money. Oh, yeah. And they won't give it back. Not even once.
Caitlyn Noble:Okay, y'all. Well, I hope we made up for some lost time. We haven't recorded since the summer wrap-up, so I'm sure you've missed us.
Janet Mobley:Um, this this we're happy to be back. I hope you're happy to have us.
Caitlyn Noble:Um, that being said, this does wrap up the fall 2025 news cycle, a solid mix of economic signals, some industry shakeups, and a whole lot happening in digital marketing.
Janet Mobley:As always, if you're listening and you want help making sense of these changes for your business, whether it's Google Ads, SEO, AI, or your 2026 marketing plan. Please reach out to us at Fatcat Strategies. We absolutely love helping contractors navigate this stuff. Thank you again for tuning in to Digital Marketing for Contractors, and we will see you in the next episode.
Speaker 2:Digital marketing for contractors is created by Fat Cat Strategies. For more information, visit fatcatstrategies.com.