August 13, 2025 • 21 mins
In this episode of Digital Marketing for Contractors, Janet and Arden tackle a big question for 2025: How can home improvement contractors protect their lead flow in an AI-driven marketing world?
From SEO to paid ads to CRM follow-up, the tools you’ve always used still matter—but the way you use them has changed.
You’ll learn:
- How to create content that Google’s new AI Overviews will actually quote (and why it matters for your traffic)
- How to let AI help with ad targeting—without letting it waste your budget
- How AI-powered CRMs can follow up faster, smarter, and more personally to close more jobs
Whether you’re running a roofing company, remodeling business, or window and door operation, this episode shows how to start small, stay strategic, and make AI work for you—not replace you.
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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 00 (00:00):
Welcome to digital marketing for contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet Mobley (00:31):
Welcome back.
I am Janet, the founder of FatCat Strategies, and today I am
super pumped to have one of ouramazing and talented account
managers with me today, Arden.
It's Arden's first time on theshow.
Say hello, Arden.
Hey, I'm so excited to be ontoday.
I love that you came right outof the gate with a hey.
Arden is super Southern.
(00:52):
I am super Southern and we loveit.
Okay, so today, what are wetalking about?
We are in the second part of athree-part mini-series where
we're taking a little bit of adeep dive into AI.
Last week, we talked about howAI is changing the online game
for lead generation and how thatimpacts customer behavior and
(01:13):
what that means for you, thehome improvement contractors out
there listening.
So today, we're looking intodigital tactics.
What's still working today?
What might not be working sowell anymore?
And what should you try?
So the tools haven'tdisappeared.
They're kind of the same orsimilar tools that we've been
(01:34):
using.
But the way we need to use themnow that AI is influencing so
much of the Internet, the way weuse them has changed.
So let's dig in.
Kicking things off.
One thing that I wanted to getinto right out of the gate that
we've been talking about a lotlately is AI and content
strategy.
(01:54):
Arden, tell me what's going onwith that.
Arden Parrish (01:58):
Yeah, whether it's ChatGPT, Gemini, Jasper,
one of the many tools for AIright now, they're completely
changing how we plan and createSEO content.
And honestly, it's made theprocess a lot faster for us so
we can get more content out.
And it's really good content,but what you have to be careful
with is that it sounds like yourbrand.
(02:19):
And it's not going to be ableto do that without that human
touch still.
Janet Mobley (02:22):
So what you mean is if you're going to use AI to
create content to publish, youcan't just hit the button and
walk away.
You need to actually make sureit sounds like your company.
Arden Parrish (02:35):
Exactly.
For it to be successful, youhave to have that human touch.
Make sure you're reading it andreshaping it to fit your brand.
Janet Mobley (02:43):
Okay, so I guess a question that our listeners can
ask if they are using maybe AIin-house and doing some of their
own SEO or doing some of theirown online marketing is, you
know, is this AI content that'sbeen generated, does it reflect
your tone?
Does it actually solve a localhomeowner's problem?
(03:03):
Is it accurate?
So it's not a shortcut to stopthinking.
You still have to think.
You still have to make judgmentcalls as the manager of your
company.
You know, you're either theowner or the operator if you're
listening to this.
And even if you have amarketing agency working on your
content, if you know thatthey're using A.I., maybe have
(03:26):
conversations with your agencyabout what is the tone and the
approach that you want to take.
So if you're going to use AI tospeed things up, the strategy
is to use it to get an edge onhow quickly you can get things
(03:46):
up and published, but you can'tskip that human layer.
And so if you are optimizingfor rankings, you need to also
be thinking about how Google isdelivering answers in 2025.
So, you know, in anotherepisode we talked about how with
AI, when we used to talk aboutSEO, which is search engine
(04:10):
optimization, everybody talkedabout keywords and keyword
phrases.
And then we would have clientssay, I searched on this phrase
and I don't come up as numberone.
I think that kind of thinkingis now...
over
Arden Parrish (04:23):
oh yeah that's changed big time it's not so
much about keywords and rankingand phrases now it's now about
the actual content can you bequotable by ai are you answering
the question that the customeris asking and the ai engine um i
mean it's really shaping howrankings are And your traffic
(04:43):
could take a serious hit ifyou're not adjusting your
strategy to also answer thosequestions.
I mean, there's even studiesright now that are showing that
sites are losing their spot intraditional organic rankings to
these AI summaries.
And they're seeing 20% to 30%drops in traffic because they're
still keeping their strategybased only on keywords.
You have to answer the questionand be quotable by AI now.
Janet Mobley (05:05):
Yeah, that's crazy.
And it's such a huge shift,right?
Honestly, that we've seenhappen just this calendar year.
I mean, six months ago, we werestill, you know, internally and
with our prospects andcustomers talking about which
keywords they rank for.
And it feels to me as the oldperson on the podcast, it kind
(05:27):
of feels like this happenedovernight.
It feels like I woke up one dayand now nobody cares about
keyword rankings anymore.
It's whether or not your answercan show up in these keywords.
AI generated summaries.
So, you know, if the goal is tobe quotable by AI, how do we
(05:49):
make that happen, Arden?
Arden Parrish (05:50):
I mean, it's not just about being quotable.
It's about Are you atrustworthy source?
You know, that matters morethan ever.
Google's also prioritizingcontent that looks credible to
AI.
So that means that E-E-A-T,that experience, expertise,
authoritativeness, and trust.
So in other words, if yourcontent just sounds vague or
(06:11):
generic because you're justtrying to pack in a keyword,
you're out.
You have to answer thatquestion.
It has to be good content.
Unknown (06:17):
Wow.
Janet Mobley (06:18):
Wow.
So I guess what we're saying isyou're still publishing
content.
That has not changed.
If you're trying to generateleads online, you're pumping
content into the internet.
The difference is you're notjust pumping it in to target a
keyword.
You've got to be thinking aboutclarity of your content,
authority of your content,format.
(06:39):
All that stuff matters morethan ever.
Arden Parrish (06:48):
All right, so we just covered AI and content, but
now let's get into the paidside.
Google Ads and what's happeningwith the smart advertising.
I mean, there's so muchhappening here.
Google is now using machinelearning, it's called smart
bidding, to adjust bids in realtime.
And it's really looking atsignals like your device, your
location, your time of day, andeven user behavior.
(07:10):
But just like with the SEO sideof things, it isn't just a set
it and forget it system.
You can't just put what youwant in there and hands off you
have to get in there and makesure that your goals are clearly
defined and that yourconversion tracking is still
strong so it still takes astrong strategy so that google's
ai can optimize the right thing
Janet Mobley (07:32):
okay arden i think you just said a bunch of words
that if there's a dude riding inhis truck he might not know
what in the world you're talkingabout so you said that If
you're going to be running adson Google, you've got to make
sure your data is clean andyou've got your goals set up.
I'm going to translate that forthe mortals out there.
Tell me what a goal is.
(07:54):
Actually, I'm going to askArden to translate it.
So when you're saying like,hey, you can't just let the AI
run amok.
You've got to make sure you'vegot the right goal set.
What is a goal?
Arden Parrish (08:05):
Those goals are what you're trying.
I mean, what are you trying toachieve with your ads?
How successful are you tryingto be?
Do you have a cost per lead, acertain conversion rate that
you're trying to achieve here?
Those are the goals that you'rereally going to want to set
for, or maybe even it's how muchyou want to spend today.
You know, if you're trying tokeep it under a certain budget,
what are those key goals thatyou're trying to hit?
(08:25):
Got it.
And make sure that Googleunderstands those.
Right.
Janet Mobley (08:28):
So Google Ads is still around even though AI has
changed the search experience.
Google's still making money onits ads.
And I guess what you're tellingus is even though AI has found
its way into Google, a humanstill needs to make sure...
that the goals that are set upare aligned with what the
(08:48):
business needs.
So you mentioned like a costper lead.
If your goal is to get the costof your exclusively generated
leads, not the ones you get fromthird-party aggregators, but
the ones you generate throughyour own campaigns, if your goal
is to get those below a certaindollar amount, say $125, is
that what you mean?
Like really dial in your goalsand then let AI complement what
(09:14):
you've set up.
Arden Parrish (09:15):
Spot on.
The AI is only going to work ifyour data and your goals are
clear.
Got it.
So it's not magic.
Exactly.
You can't wave a little wandand everything works.
Janet Mobley (09:28):
So what are some of the ways that you see AI
showing up in paid
Arden Parrish (09:34):
ads?
I mean, it's definitely makingthe process easier.
I'm seeing it a lot inAI-generated headlines, the
messaging descriptions, and evensome images you can create.
really cool images with AI now,and we're starting to see that
in ads as well.
Not just on Google, but also onMeta, those Facebook ads,
(09:54):
they're starting to play withsome AI tools too that can
auto-generate that messaging toget out to your customers.
But same thing that we'reseeing with SEO, you have to go
in and give them your brand,give them your human voice
otherwise they're not going tobe able to deliver the message
in a way that reflects who youare and who your brand is.
Janet Mobley (10:15):
Okay so it sounds like what you're saying is that
AI can do some of the grunt workfor you but you still need a
big picture strategy and someoversight and brand direction
coming from a human.
Correct.
Is that what you're saying?
Arden Parrish (10:33):
Yeah, it can really boost ad performance, but
if you're not feeding it thequality data, watching the
results and stepping in, thenit's going to go off the rails.
Janet Mobley (10:42):
Yeah, so AI doesn't know what your business
goal is.
It's not going to know whatyour revenue goal is for this
year.
It's not going to know that,let's say you have three lines
of services.
You've got, I don't know,you're doing decks, windows, and
roofing.
And, you know, AI is not goingto magically know that you
(11:02):
don't, want to run decades inthe dead of winter.
Right.
Like, so that would be anexample of strategy.
So you still have to have, youknow, You have to bring to the
table, what are your revenuegoals?
What does your split look like?
Do you want half your leadsfrom roofing and half from
siding?
(11:22):
Or do you want 80% of yourleads from roofing and 20% from
siding?
And then once you've got yourstrategy and your goals and your
geography and you know whatyour brand voice is and you know
how you want to go into themarketplace, then the AI can
take a lot of the repetitiveminutia tasks off of your plate
(11:42):
or off of, I don't know ifyou've got interns doing this or
you've hired some assistants,but it can really speed things
up and make them a little bitsharper.
So, okay, so we covered ads.
What are we talking about next,Arden?
Arden Parrish (11:56):
We are going to talk about how AI-powered CRMs
are another great tool to helpyou with lead management and
follow-up.
Oh,
Janet Mobley (12:04):
cool.
Well, what are you seeing, howare you seeing AI show up in
some of these CRMs?
Unknown (12:11):
Well,
Arden Parrish (12:12):
They're making a serious difference where it's
not just about storing contactinformation anymore.
They're also really helpingsales teams actually close
through different things likeauto-generated emails and text
messages to contacts based onwhat the lead's actually
interested in.
Yeah, it can get thatinformation from your CRM and
(12:32):
come up with custom messagesbased on where they're at in
your funnel.
Janet Mobley (12:36):
Or maybe even like what pages they've looked at in
your website or what formsthey've filled out or whatever
their behavior is that's beentracked in the CRM.
Arden Parrish (12:46):
Exactly.
It's all based on what you havein your CRM and it can really
help better set those based onthe messaging and the
information it has.
It's really cool some of thetools that are out there with
the different CRMs.
Janet Mobley (12:58):
And so what you're saying or what I think you're
saying is that now that AI hasfound its way into the CRMs,
it's helping...
to automate more customizedfollow-up and outreach messages,
be that a text message or anemail message.
That's really cool.
So there's a ton of CRMs thatserve this space, way too many
(13:21):
to go into detail here, but oneof the things that we wanna
encourage everybody to do issince AI has hit us so fast this
year, Take a fresh look at theCRM that you're already using.
Sit down and look for newfeatures that have been embedded
in the interface.
(13:42):
There may be AI tools that arein the CRM that you're using
that you don't even know aboutbecause you've become almost...
like blind to it you're so usedto looking at it you're so used
to going to the same oldreports the same old like click
here click here click here getmy sales report get my closing
ratio per sales rep or whateverit is you know leads by source
(14:07):
you may be passing right by somebrand new shiny ai feature that
got rolled out in the lastthree months that could really
help you so um So, you know, onthat topic, I guess what we're
really hitting home here is thatmost leads in your CRM go cold
(14:29):
because people aren't followingup with them at the right time
and they're not sending theright message.
And AI can really help solvethat by setting smart triggers
so that nothing falls throughthe cracks.
What else have you seen?
in terms of AI finding its wayinto CRMs.
Arden Parrish (14:47):
Yeah, it's not just, you know, that follow-up
piece like you were saying, butthere's also some really good
predictive insights that AI isable to generate.
Cool.
It can spot some really coolpatterns in your pipeline, look
like what type leads areactually converting, and it can
kind of tell your sales teamwhere to focus their time and
give you guys time back.
That could be really valuable.
Yeah, the time
Janet Mobley (15:08):
back is the piece that we've been talking about
internally, right?
you know, approaching what allAI can do can be really
overwhelming.
And at first it kind of feelslike a time suck.
But once you kind of get yourbrain wrapped around it and you
play with a few tools, if youfirst approach it as if this is
(15:29):
just a really smart assistant,you can offload some repetitive
tasks and you can do things likeArden just said, like some of
this predictive insights, run itagainst a data set to see, what
patterns you can find.
So the real value here isn'tjust the automation, it's the
intelligent automation.
(15:50):
These systems can help youfollow up faster, more
accurately, and with way lessguesswork.
Arden Parrish (15:58):
Yeah, if you're still manually chasing every
lead or sending the same messageto everyone, you might be
burning time and leaving moneyon the table.
All right.
So we've covered a lot today.
We've done AI content, paidads, automation, but let's end
with something practical.
Where should you actually startif you're not already using AI?
(16:18):
I love
Janet Mobley (16:19):
that question.
It feels like this is in thenews all the time.
And when I approach somethinglike this, where it's like new
and it's buzzworthy and peopleare talking about it and there's
always, I'm a little bitoverwhelmed about where in the
hell should I start?
So if you're feeling the sameway, our advice is don't
(16:40):
overhaul everything overnight.
So one thing you could do ifyou're running paid ads on, say,
Google or Meta, you could runwhat's called an A-B split test.
That's where you run Avariation of an ad, we'll call
it variation A, against avariation of an ad, we'll call
(17:00):
it variation B.
And then those two variationsbattle against each other to see
which one converts the mostleads.
So you could take some of yourexisting top performing ads on
whatever platform you'readvertising on and let AI
rewrite some part of it.
Rewrite the headline, rewritethe call to action, run an A-B
(17:21):
test, and then compare theperformance.
So that's like one small,tangible, practical way you can
start testing AI.
What other ideas do you have,Arden?
Arden Parrish (17:32):
Another way you could start testing is the SEO
side.
So use an AI-powered SEO toolfor just one blog post.
Start out small with just onepost and let it help with the
structure of the content,keyword suggestions, and maybe
even go ahead and write thefirst draft for you.
Just make sure that you edit itto sound like your brand and
(17:54):
start there.
One blog post.
Janet Mobley (17:55):
Yep.
And then, you know, wementioned this a few minutes
ago.
Take 20 minutes this week.
Log into your CRM and see ifyou can spot...
I call it sparkles.
It looks kind of like a littlediamond.
It's like a little star in thesky.
That seems to be what the worldhas decided is the icon for
(18:15):
AIs, a little sparkle, a
Arden Parrish (18:17):
little
Janet Mobley (18:18):
sparkle dust.
If you log into your tried andtrue CRM that you've been using
for the past three years, fiveyears, 10 years, look for some
new buttons because chances arethey've started to incorporate
some sort of AI automation inthere.
And if you don't see it, Maybego to the website, like the
(18:39):
marketing website of the CRMthat you're using.
Look at their blog posts.
Look at their news releases.
Are they promoting a newfeature that maybe you missed
because you're busy running yourbusiness?
So if you take 20 minutes anddo that this week, make a list
of all the software that youalready pay for, including your
(19:00):
CRM, to help you run yourbusiness.
And just...
set a goal, maybe not even touse some of the tools, but to be
aware of what are the new AIfeatures in the software that
you already pay for.
So Arden, let's
Arden Parrish (19:17):
wrap it up.
What all have we talked abouttoday?
So we've again talked about AIand paid ads.
We recommend testing one withan A-B test.
We've also talked about tryingAI on one blog.
See how it works for SEO.
SEO
Janet Mobley (19:34):
and software.
Yep.
Okay.
So I love it.
I love a simple wrap up.
So I guess the point of the dayis AI is here.
It ain't going anywhere.
It's not magic.
It's really not.
You still have to have astrategy.
You still are the human for nowuntil they rise up become a
(19:54):
robot army and kill us.
At least today, July 29th, Ithink the humans are still in
charge.
So don't forget that.
So start small, stay sharp, andlet AI help you move faster
without losing sight of youroverall strategy.
And make sure to tune into ournext episode next week where we
will talk about exactly thistopic, how to stay human while
(20:18):
using AI.
Arden Parrish (20:20):
Oh, that'll be a fun one.
And of course, if you foundthis helpful, subscribe, leave a
review or share it with someoneon your team who may still be
figuring out where AI fits intheir workflow.
And
Janet Mobley (20:31):
as always, thank you for joining us another
episode.
If you found this helpful,check out our past episodes for
more ways to grow your homeimprovement business the smart
way.
And we like to say if you giveus 20 minutes, our job is to
give you some actionablestrategies and tips to help you
really crack the code in thehome improvement industry to
(20:51):
grow your business and make moremoney.
If you liked it, please tell afriend, hit subscribe, leave us
a review.
We'd love to hear feedback.
Thanks a
Speaker 00 (21:00):
lot.
Welcome to digital marketing for contractors, a
podcast for home improvementcontractors to help you crush
your lead goals and take yourbusiness to the next level.
Join us each episode as we giveyou powerful insights and
(00:22):
practical tips on the bestdigital marketing strategies to
help you grow your homeimprovement business.
Let's get started.
Janet Mobley (00:31):
Welcome back.
I am Janet, the founder of FatCat Strategies, and today I am
super pumped to have one of ouramazing and talented account
managers with me today, Arden.
It's Arden's first time on theshow.
Say hello, Arden.
Hey, I'm so excited to be ontoday.
I love that you came right outof the gate with a hey.
Arden is super Southern.
(00:52):
I am super Southern and we loveit.
Okay, so today, what are wetalking about?
We are in the second part of athree-part mini-series where
we're taking a little bit of adeep dive into AI.
Last week, we talked about howAI is changing the online game
for lead generation and how thatimpacts customer behavior and
(01:13):
what that means for you, thehome improvement contractors out
there listening.
So today, we're looking intodigital tactics.
What's still working today?
What might not be working sowell anymore?
And what should you try?
So the tools haven'tdisappeared.
They're kind of the same orsimilar tools that we've been
(01:34):
using.
But the way we need to use themnow that AI is influencing so
much of the Internet, the way weuse them has changed.
So let's dig in.
Kicking things off.
One thing that I wanted to getinto right out of the gate that
we've been talking about a lotlately is AI and content
strategy.
(01:54):
Arden, tell me what's going onwith that.
Arden Parrish (01:58):
Yeah, whether it's ChatGPT, Gemini, Jasper,
one of the many tools for AIright now, they're completely
changing how we plan and createSEO content.
And honestly, it's made theprocess a lot faster for us so
we can get more content out.
And it's really good content,but what you have to be careful
with is that it sounds like yourbrand.
(02:19):
And it's not going to be ableto do that without that human
touch still.
Janet Mobley (02:22):
So what you mean is if you're going to use AI to
create content to publish, youcan't just hit the button and
walk away.
You need to actually make sureit sounds like your company.
Arden Parrish (02:35):
Exactly.
For it to be successful, youhave to have that human touch.
Make sure you're reading it andreshaping it to fit your brand.
Janet Mobley (02:43):
Okay, so I guess a question that our listeners can
ask if they are using maybe AIin-house and doing some of their
own SEO or doing some of theirown online marketing is, you
know, is this AI content that'sbeen generated, does it reflect
your tone?
Does it actually solve a localhomeowner's problem?
(03:03):
Is it accurate?
So it's not a shortcut to stopthinking.
You still have to think.
You still have to make judgmentcalls as the manager of your
company.
You know, you're either theowner or the operator if you're
listening to this.
And even if you have amarketing agency working on your
content, if you know thatthey're using A.I., maybe have
(03:26):
conversations with your agencyabout what is the tone and the
approach that you want to take.
So if you're going to use AI tospeed things up, the strategy
is to use it to get an edge onhow quickly you can get things
(03:46):
up and published, but you can'tskip that human layer.
And so if you are optimizingfor rankings, you need to also
be thinking about how Google isdelivering answers in 2025.
So, you know, in anotherepisode we talked about how with
AI, when we used to talk aboutSEO, which is search engine
(04:10):
optimization, everybody talkedabout keywords and keyword
phrases.
And then we would have clientssay, I searched on this phrase
and I don't come up as numberone.
I think that kind of thinkingis now...
over
Arden Parrish (04:23):
oh yeah that's changed big time it's not so
much about keywords and rankingand phrases now it's now about
the actual content can you bequotable by ai are you answering
the question that the customeris asking and the ai engine um i
mean it's really shaping howrankings are And your traffic
(04:43):
could take a serious hit ifyou're not adjusting your
strategy to also answer thosequestions.
I mean, there's even studiesright now that are showing that
sites are losing their spot intraditional organic rankings to
these AI summaries.
And they're seeing 20% to 30%drops in traffic because they're
still keeping their strategybased only on keywords.
You have to answer the questionand be quotable by AI now.
Janet Mobley (05:05):
Yeah, that's crazy.
And it's such a huge shift,right?
Honestly, that we've seenhappen just this calendar year.
I mean, six months ago, we werestill, you know, internally and
with our prospects andcustomers talking about which
keywords they rank for.
And it feels to me as the oldperson on the podcast, it kind
(05:27):
of feels like this happenedovernight.
It feels like I woke up one dayand now nobody cares about
keyword rankings anymore.
It's whether or not your answercan show up in these keywords.
AI generated summaries.
So, you know, if the goal is tobe quotable by AI, how do we
(05:49):
make that happen, Arden?
Arden Parrish (05:50):
I mean, it's not just about being quotable.
It's about Are you atrustworthy source?
You know, that matters morethan ever.
Google's also prioritizingcontent that looks credible to
AI.
So that means that E-E-A-T,that experience, expertise,
authoritativeness, and trust.
So in other words, if yourcontent just sounds vague or
(06:11):
generic because you're justtrying to pack in a keyword,
you're out.
You have to answer thatquestion.
It has to be good content.
Unknown (06:17):
Wow.
Janet Mobley (06:18):
Wow.
So I guess what we're saying isyou're still publishing
content.
That has not changed.
If you're trying to generateleads online, you're pumping
content into the internet.
The difference is you're notjust pumping it in to target a
keyword.
You've got to be thinking aboutclarity of your content,
authority of your content,format.
(06:39):
All that stuff matters morethan ever.
Arden Parrish (06:48):
All right, so we just covered AI and content, but
now let's get into the paidside.
Google Ads and what's happeningwith the smart advertising.
I mean, there's so muchhappening here.
Google is now using machinelearning, it's called smart
bidding, to adjust bids in realtime.
And it's really looking atsignals like your device, your
location, your time of day, andeven user behavior.
(07:10):
But just like with the SEO sideof things, it isn't just a set
it and forget it system.
You can't just put what youwant in there and hands off you
have to get in there and makesure that your goals are clearly
defined and that yourconversion tracking is still
strong so it still takes astrong strategy so that google's
ai can optimize the right thing
Janet Mobley (07:32):
okay arden i think you just said a bunch of words
that if there's a dude riding inhis truck he might not know
what in the world you're talkingabout so you said that If
you're going to be running adson Google, you've got to make
sure your data is clean andyou've got your goals set up.
I'm going to translate that forthe mortals out there.
Tell me what a goal is.
(07:54):
Actually, I'm going to askArden to translate it.
So when you're saying like,hey, you can't just let the AI
run amok.
You've got to make sure you'vegot the right goal set.
What is a goal?
Arden Parrish (08:05):
Those goals are what you're trying.
I mean, what are you trying toachieve with your ads?
How successful are you tryingto be?
Do you have a cost per lead, acertain conversion rate that
you're trying to achieve here?
Those are the goals that you'rereally going to want to set
for, or maybe even it's how muchyou want to spend today.
You know, if you're trying tokeep it under a certain budget,
what are those key goals thatyou're trying to hit?
(08:25):
Got it.
And make sure that Googleunderstands those.
Right.
Janet Mobley (08:28):
So Google Ads is still around even though AI has
changed the search experience.
Google's still making money onits ads.
And I guess what you're tellingus is even though AI has found
its way into Google, a humanstill needs to make sure...
that the goals that are set upare aligned with what the
(08:48):
business needs.
So you mentioned like a costper lead.
If your goal is to get the costof your exclusively generated
leads, not the ones you get fromthird-party aggregators, but
the ones you generate throughyour own campaigns, if your goal
is to get those below a certaindollar amount, say $125, is
that what you mean?
Like really dial in your goalsand then let AI complement what
(09:14):
you've set up.
Arden Parrish (09:15):
Spot on.
The AI is only going to work ifyour data and your goals are
clear.
Got it.
So it's not magic.
Exactly.
You can't wave a little wandand everything works.
Janet Mobley (09:28):
So what are some of the ways that you see AI
showing up in paid
Arden Parrish (09:34):
ads?
I mean, it's definitely makingthe process easier.
I'm seeing it a lot inAI-generated headlines, the
messaging descriptions, and evensome images you can create.
really cool images with AI now,and we're starting to see that
in ads as well.
Not just on Google, but also onMeta, those Facebook ads,
(09:54):
they're starting to play withsome AI tools too that can
auto-generate that messaging toget out to your customers.
But same thing that we'reseeing with SEO, you have to go
in and give them your brand,give them your human voice
otherwise they're not going tobe able to deliver the message
in a way that reflects who youare and who your brand is.
Janet Mobley (10:15):
Okay so it sounds like what you're saying is that
AI can do some of the grunt workfor you but you still need a
big picture strategy and someoversight and brand direction
coming from a human.
Correct.
Is that what you're saying?
Arden Parrish (10:33):
Yeah, it can really boost ad performance, but
if you're not feeding it thequality data, watching the
results and stepping in, thenit's going to go off the rails.
Janet Mobley (10:42):
Yeah, so AI doesn't know what your business
goal is.
It's not going to know whatyour revenue goal is for this
year.
It's not going to know that,let's say you have three lines
of services.
You've got, I don't know,you're doing decks, windows, and
roofing.
And, you know, AI is not goingto magically know that you
(11:02):
don't, want to run decades inthe dead of winter.
Right.
Like, so that would be anexample of strategy.
So you still have to have, youknow, You have to bring to the
table, what are your revenuegoals?
What does your split look like?
Do you want half your leadsfrom roofing and half from
siding?
(11:22):
Or do you want 80% of yourleads from roofing and 20% from
siding?
And then once you've got yourstrategy and your goals and your
geography and you know whatyour brand voice is and you know
how you want to go into themarketplace, then the AI can
take a lot of the repetitiveminutia tasks off of your plate
(11:42):
or off of, I don't know ifyou've got interns doing this or
you've hired some assistants,but it can really speed things
up and make them a little bitsharper.
So, okay, so we covered ads.
What are we talking about next,Arden?
Arden Parrish (11:56):
We are going to talk about how AI-powered CRMs
are another great tool to helpyou with lead management and
follow-up.
Oh,
Janet Mobley (12:04):
cool.
Well, what are you seeing, howare you seeing AI show up in
some of these CRMs?
Unknown (12:11):
Well,
Arden Parrish (12:12):
They're making a serious difference where it's
not just about storing contactinformation anymore.
They're also really helpingsales teams actually close
through different things likeauto-generated emails and text
messages to contacts based onwhat the lead's actually
interested in.
Yeah, it can get thatinformation from your CRM and
(12:32):
come up with custom messagesbased on where they're at in
your funnel.
Janet Mobley (12:36):
Or maybe even like what pages they've looked at in
your website or what formsthey've filled out or whatever
their behavior is that's beentracked in the CRM.
Arden Parrish (12:46):
Exactly.
It's all based on what you havein your CRM and it can really
help better set those based onthe messaging and the
information it has.
It's really cool some of thetools that are out there with
the different CRMs.
Janet Mobley (12:58):
And so what you're saying or what I think you're
saying is that now that AI hasfound its way into the CRMs,
it's helping...
to automate more customizedfollow-up and outreach messages,
be that a text message or anemail message.
That's really cool.
So there's a ton of CRMs thatserve this space, way too many
(13:21):
to go into detail here, but oneof the things that we wanna
encourage everybody to do issince AI has hit us so fast this
year, Take a fresh look at theCRM that you're already using.
Sit down and look for newfeatures that have been embedded
in the interface.
(13:42):
There may be AI tools that arein the CRM that you're using
that you don't even know aboutbecause you've become almost...
like blind to it you're so usedto looking at it you're so used
to going to the same oldreports the same old like click
here click here click here getmy sales report get my closing
ratio per sales rep or whateverit is you know leads by source
(14:07):
you may be passing right by somebrand new shiny ai feature that
got rolled out in the lastthree months that could really
help you so um So, you know, onthat topic, I guess what we're
really hitting home here is thatmost leads in your CRM go cold
(14:29):
because people aren't followingup with them at the right time
and they're not sending theright message.
And AI can really help solvethat by setting smart triggers
so that nothing falls throughthe cracks.
What else have you seen?
in terms of AI finding its wayinto CRMs.
Arden Parrish (14:47):
Yeah, it's not just, you know, that follow-up
piece like you were saying, butthere's also some really good
predictive insights that AI isable to generate.
Cool.
It can spot some really coolpatterns in your pipeline, look
like what type leads areactually converting, and it can
kind of tell your sales teamwhere to focus their time and
give you guys time back.
That could be really valuable.
Yeah, the time
Janet Mobley (15:08):
back is the piece that we've been talking about
internally, right?
you know, approaching what allAI can do can be really
overwhelming.
And at first it kind of feelslike a time suck.
But once you kind of get yourbrain wrapped around it and you
play with a few tools, if youfirst approach it as if this is
(15:29):
just a really smart assistant,you can offload some repetitive
tasks and you can do things likeArden just said, like some of
this predictive insights, run itagainst a data set to see, what
patterns you can find.
So the real value here isn'tjust the automation, it's the
intelligent automation.
(15:50):
These systems can help youfollow up faster, more
accurately, and with way lessguesswork.
Arden Parrish (15:58):
Yeah, if you're still manually chasing every
lead or sending the same messageto everyone, you might be
burning time and leaving moneyon the table.
All right.
So we've covered a lot today.
We've done AI content, paidads, automation, but let's end
with something practical.
Where should you actually startif you're not already using AI?
(16:18):
I love
Janet Mobley (16:19):
that question.
It feels like this is in thenews all the time.
And when I approach somethinglike this, where it's like new
and it's buzzworthy and peopleare talking about it and there's
always, I'm a little bitoverwhelmed about where in the
hell should I start?
So if you're feeling the sameway, our advice is don't
(16:40):
overhaul everything overnight.
So one thing you could do ifyou're running paid ads on, say,
Google or Meta, you could runwhat's called an A-B split test.
That's where you run Avariation of an ad, we'll call
it variation A, against avariation of an ad, we'll call
(17:00):
it variation B.
And then those two variationsbattle against each other to see
which one converts the mostleads.
So you could take some of yourexisting top performing ads on
whatever platform you'readvertising on and let AI
rewrite some part of it.
Rewrite the headline, rewritethe call to action, run an A-B
(17:21):
test, and then compare theperformance.
So that's like one small,tangible, practical way you can
start testing AI.
What other ideas do you have,Arden?
Arden Parrish (17:32):
Another way you could start testing is the SEO
side.
So use an AI-powered SEO toolfor just one blog post.
Start out small with just onepost and let it help with the
structure of the content,keyword suggestions, and maybe
even go ahead and write thefirst draft for you.
Just make sure that you edit itto sound like your brand and
(17:54):
start there.
One blog post.
Janet Mobley (17:55):
Yep.
And then, you know, wementioned this a few minutes
ago.
Take 20 minutes this week.
Log into your CRM and see ifyou can spot...
I call it sparkles.
It looks kind of like a littlediamond.
It's like a little star in thesky.
That seems to be what the worldhas decided is the icon for
(18:15):
AIs, a little sparkle, a
Arden Parrish (18:17):
little
Janet Mobley (18:18):
sparkle dust.
If you log into your tried andtrue CRM that you've been using
for the past three years, fiveyears, 10 years, look for some
new buttons because chances arethey've started to incorporate
some sort of AI automation inthere.
And if you don't see it, Maybego to the website, like the
(18:39):
marketing website of the CRMthat you're using.
Look at their blog posts.
Look at their news releases.
Are they promoting a newfeature that maybe you missed
because you're busy running yourbusiness?
So if you take 20 minutes anddo that this week, make a list
of all the software that youalready pay for, including your
(19:00):
CRM, to help you run yourbusiness.
And just...
set a goal, maybe not even touse some of the tools, but to be
aware of what are the new AIfeatures in the software that
you already pay for.
So Arden, let's
Arden Parrish (19:17):
wrap it up.
What all have we talked abouttoday?
So we've again talked about AIand paid ads.
We recommend testing one withan A-B test.
We've also talked about tryingAI on one blog.
See how it works for SEO.
SEO
Janet Mobley (19:34):
and software.
Yep.
Okay.
So I love it.
I love a simple wrap up.
So I guess the point of the dayis AI is here.
It ain't going anywhere.
It's not magic.
It's really not.
You still have to have astrategy.
You still are the human for nowuntil they rise up become a
(19:54):
robot army and kill us.
At least today, July 29th, Ithink the humans are still in
charge.
So don't forget that.
So start small, stay sharp, andlet AI help you move faster
without losing sight of youroverall strategy.
And make sure to tune into ournext episode next week where we
will talk about exactly thistopic, how to stay human while
(20:18):
using AI.
Arden Parrish (20:20):
Oh, that'll be a fun one.
And of course, if you foundthis helpful, subscribe, leave a
review or share it with someoneon your team who may still be
figuring out where AI fits intheir workflow.
And
Janet Mobley (20:31):
as always, thank you for joining us another
episode.
If you found this helpful,check out our past episodes for
more ways to grow your homeimprovement business the smart
way.
And we like to say if you giveus 20 minutes, our job is to
give you some actionablestrategies and tips to help you
really crack the code in thehome improvement industry to
(20:51):
grow your business and make moremoney.
If you liked it, please tell afriend, hit subscribe, leave us
a review.
We'd love to hear feedback.
Thanks a
Speaker 00 (21:00):
lot.
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com