Ep 297 | Telling Your Story On Your Website for Better Conversions with Daniel Molina

Are you struggling to engage visitors on your nonprofit's website? You're not alone. Many organizations find it challenging to tell their story effectively online, often missing the mark when it comes to showcasing the true impact of their work.

In this episode, I'm joined by Daniel Molina, an accomplished marketing professional and entrepreneur, to discuss strategies for creating a compelling online presence that resonates with donors, volunteers, and those seeking help.

Key Insights on Website Engagement

• The power of video in storytelling and emotional connection
• Balancing short-form and long-form content for maximum impact
• Creating a redemptive narrative that inspires action
• Transparency in fundraising and project goals
• Avoiding political pitfalls in your messaging

Crafting Your Nonprofit's Story

Daniel emphasizes the importance of a three-part storytelling approach:

• Highlight the issue with relevant statistics
• Present your organization's solution
• Showcase the fruits of your efforts

By following this structure, you can create content that not only informs but also motivates visitors to get involved.

Practical Tips for Website Optimization

• Use video to capture attention and convey emotion quickly
• Offer multiple engagement options: volunteer, donate, and seek help
• Create project-specific fundraising goals to give donors a sense of ownership
• Ensure your content remains timeless to avoid frequent updates

“Don't have this black box that no one knows what's in it. You want to make sure that you are fully transparent and people know where the money is going, who's involved.” – Daniel Molina

This episode provides actionable advice for nonprofit leaders looking to enhance their digital presence. You'll learn how to create a website that not only informs but also inspires action, ultimately helping you further your mission and make a greater impact.

Ready to transform your nonprofit's online storytelling? Listen to the full episode for more valuable insights and strategies you can implement today.

Want to skip ahead? Here are key takeaways:

03:55 Crafting Compelling Website Content for Nonprofits Create a narrative that includes the problem, solution, and impact. Use video to capture attention and convey emotion, followed by photos and text. Transparency is so important. Right now avoid political stances, and focus on the organization's core mission to connect with donors on a human level.

18:48 Effective Calls-to-Action and Conversion Strategies Conversion strategies are important. Create multiple options beyond just donating. Provide ways for visitors to volunteer, get help, or sign up for newsletters. Show project progress and costs to give donors a sense of ownership and transparency in how their money is used.

Full Transcript

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
We know that messaging and storytelling is really important, especially on our website. It helps people connect to us, engage with us, understand what we do, but a lot of times we fall short and not telling the whole story, not really sharing a lot about the transformation, and expanding on the transformation and how it impacts the community that we serve. And so today, I have Daniel Molina joining me today to really talk about how we can engage people on our websites, how we can encourage them to dive deeper with us, how we can encourage them to really get excited about the work that we're doing and how their support is going to help us take our work to the next level. Daniel Molina is an accomplished marketing professional and entrepreneur, owning red palm studios since 2002 with extensive experience and knowledge in the latest web trends, he has successfully worked with high profile clients and small business startups, delivering maximum exposure as a passionate entrepreneur, Daniel Molina believes in giving back to the community and making a positive impact through various initiatives and partnerships. He actively engages in community outreach, addressing social issues and supporting local causes. Daniel's dedication to creating a better society extends beyond business, demonstrating his commitment to improving lives and fostering a sense of unity. And so I love this conversation because it's a personal passion of his giving back, as well as experience that he has marketing businesses for years and just helping you kind of really take the best of both worlds. What are the strategies that are going to really help you? And then how do you take that story to the next level? How do you connect emotionally to the people that are engaging with your organization? So that is what we were talking about in this episode. Before we get to it. This episode is brought to you by do good university. This is a unique membership for Nonprofit Professionals, where you get access to on demand courses and trainings from everything from grant writing, from A to Z to event planning to marketing, email marketing, your website, major giving campaigns, board management, all of the things at your fingertips whenever you need it, and beyond that, Patrick Kirby, who founded do good university, and myself, go live every single week to answer your questions, so you can come with anything that you're struggling with, or just learn from those that are going through the same things you are, and get inspired by the ways that they're working through it, how they're making those asks, how they're getting that awareness for their organization. It's a lot of fun. And if you go to thefirstclick.net/dgu the letter U, you can find a link to get two free weeks inside of do good university, so you can come hang out with us, check it out, see what it's all about, and see if it's the right fit for you. Again, that's thefirstclick.net/dgu, there's also a bonus podcast episode on that page that I did with Patrick talking about what is so great about DGU, why is it the place for you, and why is coming together in community with other nonprofit professionals such a major impact on your growth and your ability to succeed and surpass Your Goals. Let's get into the episode.

Intro
You're listening to the digital marketing therapy podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern. Each month we dive deep into a digital marketing or fundraising strategy that you can implement in your organization. Each week, you'll hear from guest experts, nonprofits, and myself on best practices, tips and resources to help you raise more money online and reach your organizational goals.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Hey, friends, please join me in welcoming Daniel Molina to the podcast. Daniel, thanks for being here.

Daniel Molina
It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Yeah, I'm so excited for this conversation, because we love websites here on this podcast, because I do think that they are really so important for any organization to have. But before we kind of jump into some strategies, why do you also feel that websites are something that we want to make sure we're taking care of as part of our marketing strategy?

Daniel Molina
Yeah, so you know, websites, as always, has been kind of like your storefront, right? And so even more, in this day and age, where there's a lot of companies, organizations, that they don't have an office, you can't just go knock on their door and then see and experience them, right? And so you want to have and then really people, when they do their due diligence, they're looking at your website, they're looking at your social media. They're looking at, okay, who's this company? What's your online presence looks like, you know, and usually social media would be like the hook that gets them into the website. Oh, I want to know more about this company. And so if you don't have a website that kicks butt and does a good job of telling the story and everything that we were gonna probably talk about today, then you're gonna miss out on opportunities to be able to fundraise or get people to get volunteer or be involved in what you're doing.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Yeah. So good. So, you know, I love that you already brought up storytelling, because we struggle with this a lot with our clients in that the website, the way it looks isn't as important as the information that's on it. So. Maybe share a little bit about your thoughts on the power of storytelling and the power of the messaging on your website, and why that is the most important thing, not not just the colors and the images and the graphics.

Daniel Molina
Yeah, you know, we can obviously. I mean, I went to college studying. I had like, one or two semesters about graphic design, color theory and how to position things, and all that. And so I am very familiar with making things look beautiful and esthetically pleasing, but unfortunately, in today's day and age with so many templates and so many easy ways to build websites, having a pretty website is not going to get you people to get behind what you're doing. It's the story behind it, right? I always say the value proposition like, Why should I give to your organization? What makes you special everybody and the grandma wants money from me. And so why should I get involved with yours? And so when I think about your website, a lot of times, when I go to websites and assess them, especially in the nonprofit world, they ask for marriage too soon. Donate, donate, donate, donate. We need your money without telling the story, without letting the person going to find out more about your organization. Know, hey, you know, what do you guys do? And where does if I was going to donate, where does that money go? Is it just a bunch of successful people on the board that makes money and, you know, or is it really going to the people? I mean, especially in this day and age, you know, some nonprofits, they have black eyes because, not because they did anything wrong, but because there's been some shadiness sometimes in the industry of organizations. So how do you separate yourself from that, right? And I think the way you do that is making sure that you understand what are people looking for when they go to your website. How do they communicate? So, I mean, how are people getting communicated? So if you just have photos, photos, photos, and a lot of text, they'll probably ignore your page. Think about think about Instagram. When it first started, Instagram was only photos. Instagram was photos, and it was just a square photo with limited text. But now Instagram is almost becoming another YouTube, right? Every other post is a video. Most people don't even look at photos anymore. These go video, reel after reel after reel. And why is that? Because humans, we want to be entertained. We're lazy. We don't want to read a lot of content. And so we want to just you tell me what you're about with video. And what's cool about video is you say that the saying of a photo, what's a photo is, oh my gosh, what's that saying?

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Like, a picture paints 1000 words.

Daniel Molina
Yeah, a picture paints 1000 words. So you know, me being a geek in the world of video production is like, there's 29 frames per second. So think about how many frames you know, how many pictures within you know, one, one second. And so if you have video where you have audio, nice music, and people talking in motion and and really trying to share them. Hey, here's who we're about, and here's what we do that will do way better than the photo. If you know, if you could pay 1000 words, imagine what video can do right when you can actually touch the emotion and and share and not manipulate. But it's just like, hey, here's who we are, here's what we believe in, and here's what you want to get behind. So video would be probably your most important investment. Second to your website, and put that bad boy up front and center. Let them watch 30 seconds. Ooh, I want more. Then add the photo. Then add like, Hey, here's where your money's going to video, here's where your money's going. Here's the people we're helping. You know, here's how many lives we change, or here's how many moms we change. Here's whatever it is you have to share the fruit video, what you what we what's going to experience, what the volunteer not? Don't just talk to the donors. You got to talk to the volunteers and you got to talk to the donors, all in the same time. And so I want to be a part of that. I want to be involved in that. Or man, I want to donate. I want to sow into that, right? Then you have, like, here's the fruit, here's what we've been doing. Then you could talk about all the other projects and stuff like that, and all the content in the photos and the text contents, good, but you first got to wow them. First get them to buy in. Yes, I want to do, I want to, I want to be a part of that. Then you can have everything else, but that's my opinion, how you're going to convert or have more people get involved with what you're doing?

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
No, I agree with that. So many good things that you've said, because we tend to want to, like, word vomit, everything that we do, and that's overwhelming. And so to your point, like, yes, with video, it's really impactful and allows us to kind of connect emotionally, build that trust, get to know an organization. And also, if I want to geek out and dive deeper into some of those things, having that content on the website that's thoughtfully placed where I can make sure I get there eventually. But I just need to kind of know who you are, what you do first. So I think that was really good. I love video, but I want to kind of ask you, you know, when it comes to our storytelling, when we're creating these videos, these scripts, when we're trying to explain to people what we do your thoughts, because I've seen a shift in the kind of doom and gloom like, you know, we always bring up the ASPCA commercials where they show this, you know, six cent puppies that are left, um. And out in the cold, versus them showing commercials of those puppies in happy homes where they're, you know, super their life has changed, yada yada yada, right? So kind of your feelings on more aspirational type content versus kind of the, I don't want to say doom and gloom, but like the dark or the bad, the reason why you started doing the work that you're doing in the first place, the problem you're solving, kind of, how are you seeing that language shift in our storytelling as it relates to video and just content on our website?

Daniel Molina
You know, that's a great question, and it's a tough question to answer, because at the end of the day, my wife and I talk about this, you know, she said we need a good news channel. Just a good news Yeah, my in my opinion, and what I tell you that that will make money, it won't survive. So what are you talking about? People want to hear about good news all the time. I'm like, Yes, like people who are very positive on that, but even people like that, like, okay, cool. Another awesome thing great. What unfortunately sells is the doom and gloom. What unfortunately sells is the drama, it's the gossip, it's the Oh my gosh. I can't believe that happened, right? That Sells. And that's why these news media places continue to grow, because they cover a bunch of stuff that we don't even need to know. Why do I need to know what's happening in the happening in New York? Like, I live in Hawaii, and I need local news to help my community here, right? But something happened. Oh my gosh. Now, if it affects us as a state or federal level, okay, I want to know about it, but there's so much stuff out there that I don't need to know what happened over there, right? But, but because we want to know everybody's business and like, oh, I can't believe that happened. It sells. So as a nonprofit or a organization trying to compete, is what we're doing. We're competing with that entertainment. It's hard to just say, here's all the fruit of things happening, because unfortunately, people be like, okay, whatever. But if you do see that puppy who's skinny and flies are all over it, and it's like, Oh, what happened to that? You know? And then, and then they're gonna watch it, and then there's gonna show the program. I mean, it happens to me. There's this guy in Asia. I don't know it's in Chinese or Japanese or whatever. I don't even know what they're saying, but it feeds me this little puppies on the street. He picks him up, looks like they're about dead, and he goes, give him the bath, feeds them. And I follow the whole story of like, you know, 90 seconds of like, now that it's healthy, first healthy, you know, the puppies all happy, and I don't even know what they're saying, but I like the video. Yeah, so but, but it's because people like a redemptive story. So don't see it as a gloom and doom. See it as a redemptive story. Nonprofits usually are trying to solve problems and help, you know, help people. And so the redemptive story is what's selling, not the doom and gloom. So if you miss, if you miss, what happened, how you got there, and you just only show the end of it, that it's like half the story, but the climax is when that guy picked up the puppy and said, I'm gonna help you. Like, that's the climax. And so everyone loved the climax of the story. So I wouldn't shy away from like, Hey, here's the problem. People are dying drugs in this neighborhood, teenagers without fathers. You know, whatever it is, single moms can't afford to whatever show the depravity is. Show what the where no one's helping the climax. But here we are, here you are helping us, help them. And then here's the retentive story, right? That, but that's every movie. Think about. You watch a movie and there's no climax, there's no, like, man, crappy movie, like, Where was the climax, right? And so, but that's storytelling, right? That's good storytelling is you have a beginning, ooh, what happened there? Like, usually, like, the the crime scene, someone died in the beginning. Well, who did it? And then there's a climax, and then we find out this, right? So it's kind of like that. It's like, you know, show, like, what's going on in the beginning of like, dang, that happened, and then the climax and the regenerative story. So I hope I answered that. It's like, sure, we don't want it's not that we're copying other people. It's just how humans respond to stories. And we want a good stories. We want to know what, what's the problem, what's the solution, and then, how do you solve that? And what's the fruit of that? And I think that is what sells. That's the kind of content you want on your website. Well.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
And I think you to your point, it's not an either or situation. It's not like I think a lot of times people just show the beginning the problem and just say, Okay, help us fix the problem. But what you're saying is when we take it all the way through to the end and show how we are solving the problem. Now, instead of just being like, Oh, you feel bad for these people so you or this cause or this situation, so you should give you're saying, hey, now that you know this exists and that we can help, you can be the hero in this story also. Like you're kind of almost letting them feel like they're a part of it, versus just throwing money at a situation they are part of the solution in a much more meaningful way, because you've crafted that beautiful story. Now the tricky part is, is, in this day and age, distilling that all down into like a 92nd video clip, or, you know, a short blurb on your website. And so I think maybe that's where people feel stuck. And how do we, how do we take this big, massive thing and make it small and or short enough that we can communicate it in a short period of time? Yeah,

Daniel Molina
and I think there's long form content and short form content, right? And now short form content is exploding. So I think what you do is you have both, you have the long form content, and then you have to short form, right? But you want to tell that story even in 60 seconds. Ew, this is what happened. Here's how we how you got involved, or how we get involved. And here's a redundant story that can happen in 60 seconds. Because, you know, if you just draw out, you know, the before, you know, image after image after, okay, I got it right, maybe one or two image of what the problem is. And then then you have volunteers helping whatever it is, or, you know, maybe a counselor, or maybe handing them money, or their grocery shopping, or whatever it is. Then show like, you know, here's how we help. And then show, and then, then in the last, you know, five to 10 seconds is them happy and enjoying their family, or the puppy healthy, or, you know, the grandma is now has a new wheelchair, or whatever it is that can happen in 60 seconds, right? To just capture their Ooh, then that, oh, that's what you do. Someone could figure out, okay, I know what you do. Then you can have a long form content, a, 10 minute video where you have interviews. B, roll shots past events, then you can have a long form content, three to six minutes on your page, where they can watch the whole thing and say, Oh, wow. Who wants more detail? Right? To explain more, because what happens we try to fit in. It's come become have this, um, this NASCAR syndrome, where we want all the different logos on the you know, look who's all involved in and you don't want that because, like, to your point, what you said earlier, it becomes overwhelming. It's like, man, you want to throw everything on the website, all this content. I have no idea what to look at first, right? And so I think if you just only have the doom and gloom, I don't think that's a good story. I think that's a that's half the truth of what you do. And then, to your point, you're just trying to make people sad and feel sorry for you like it's like, no, here's the doom and gloom, here's the hero, and you could be a part of the hero. And then here's the fruit, which is the people who were affected are now redemptive, and now they're living a better life. Now you help them that, oh, that should always be together. And if it's 60 seconds, 9010, minutes an hour, that always should be it, because that's just again, the way humans love to watch a good movie or a good content. Does that make sense?

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Yeah, absolutely. And so this is great. I think talking about kind of the types of content you want to have on your website, super important. And you've brought up kind of like goals and messaging a couple times. So it's also kind of the per what is the purpose of our website, as far as calls to action? So we've got these great videos, we've got we've got our content cleaned up, our storytelling. We're really kind of engaging with our audience. Now they're coming to the website, they're interacting. And then the conversions are the next part, right? Like making sure that people have an opportunity to engage with us. At the beginning, you said one of the biggest mistakes people make is, you know, they want you to don't like the conversion, is donate, right? And that's the thing that they want you to do first. And not everybody's there. So what other types of conversions can we kind of aim for with some of these pieces, especially to kind of the more top of funnel, or like new people that are discovering our organization that aren't ready to give just yet. Yeah,

Daniel Molina
so, so I don't mind having three buttons to say, volunteer, donate, donate, usually two, but then volunteer, donate and get help. Okay, what if that person needs help? You know, they're going to your site, and so I guess there's really three audience, it's the person that needs help, so the person that needs help, the person who wants to volunteer, and the person wants to donate, that video has to talk to three, oh, they can help me. That's me. Or, man, I want to help, or may I want to give, right So, and, you know, and you got to hire the right creatives and people to tell that story, right? And so, I mean, that's part of the battle of like, okay, who could tell that story the best, right? For that, you're gonna have to find your local videographer that, you know, tell the story, but those three audience, so those, those three buttons, is okay, get help, get volunteer, and then donate. So you could still always have it where you can see it. But that shouldn't be like pointing all arrows to this is, you know, the whole screen, right? You know. So to answer your question, another thing we can do is, you know or find out more information. They click on it and just get to email. Hey, be a part of newsletter. Be a part of you know what's going on. In your community. So it's like you said, the lower funnels of like, I'm not ready to really volunteer, I'm not really ready to give money, but I want more information. So you have, like, a little email, you know, a field where, you know, they can get, you know, a newsletter. And so that's the lower the funnel, right? But even then, you can walk them through a story. So even on the home page, as they scroll down, you can have the different projects. So you could say what I love to tell people is like, Okay, if this project costs $10,000 or 50,000 or 100,000 well then show a counter like a ticket, hey, we got 25,000 of the 50,000 that we need. And then this project, we got 75,000 out of the 100,000 that we need. And then it allows, what I love about that approach is that it allows the person who wants to help financially be control of what aspect of your organization they want to give. Because when usually I just kind of give to the whole organization, they don't know how you're going to spend your money. They don't know if you're going to be paying for the Secretary in the office. Are you paying for the President, are you paying for someone actually, you know, who actually needs the money they don't know? And so I think it's better if you, if you actually disclose what percentage does go to the actual people, and if there's projects they could actually fund, and then they decide where they want to put their money. Can now they feel more involved in in what you're doing, you know, they feel like a sense of ownership, you know, ooh, like, you know, like when I give a money to a building fund in my old church back in the day, you know, we gave, you know, a lot of money. I didn't know if I paid for the tile or the toilet or the, you know, like, all right, I just gave to the building fund. What did it go? I don't know, right? So, so where this is, like, people want more ownership, and you give it to them by saying, Hey, if you're a pro, you can still have the general donate, but you can also also have the, oh, man, all they need is 25 more grand to cover that. Yeah, awesome. Let's do it, right? And so that's how you continue to help convert them into, like, being a part of what you're doing,

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
yeah, and there's two things I want to mention there, because I love that, the psychology of why people give. And we did an episode last year on behavioral science and how, like language can shift the way that people choose to participate. And so we'll link that up in the show notes. But the psychology of, you know, there's, there's those people that want to be the first to give they want to kick off the campaign. There's the people that need to see that there's enough money that has come in already to where they feel like it is a viable fund that could potentially actually complete its mission. And then there's the people that want to be the the, you know, saving, saving it and rallying at the end. And we're the ones that close the gap and completed the project, you know. So you have those different types of people that want to give so what I love about that is you can kind of visually appeal to people at their various time or their various decision making processes and things of that nature. And also, I just want to mention, when you are creating those separate funds, always remember that if you have personnel that are directly responsible for the imp of those programs, that that should be funds that are included in that goal. So I just want to, I always like to throw that out there, because people tend to see what you said was absolutely spot on, but they are not overhead if their job is to deliver the program and service, and you can't do it without them. They should be included the expense of that program or service, because sometimes people get really nervous with designated funds, and we need to just really think about the holistic program, and that does include staff and people. So I just kind of like that out there.

Daniel Molina
Yeah, you're right. Because, like, if you say it has to go, like, if someone, if a funder, puts it, hey, I want this to go to this, you have to do it. And, like you said, Yeah, we own a nonprofit called inside outreach and and the same thing is, like, when they donate to, like, for us, it was the Maui fire relief efforts. And so the dollars that went to the Maui, Maui fire fires relief had to go to that, you know, yeah, you know. But you know, if it's a flight, if it's a, if it's a, you know, having to get rent a car, that's part of the relief efforts, you know, to get over there and help. But it's all in the way you say it, because if you say no, 100% of this is going to to them. Then, then, then you, then you can't, you can't have it for a car or a flight, because you're telling them 100% it's going to the victims and the survivors. I think it's, it could be the terminology. But for us, we did 100% like none of it went to pay for our flights and all that, because I just funded our own flights, and then 100% literally did go. But I'm just saying, like it's also in your language, I think that you have to be careful how you you say, you know, going tours, versus 100% going to the victims or the survivors or whatever. Then you're, you're kind of stuck to. Like, dang, we said 100% just saying it's going towards helping. Does that make sense? Yeah. And I think

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
I don't know, no, no, but I think you're, you're right in that it's the it's the way that we tell the story, in the way that we solve the problem. And I think going back to how you get better conversions from the website is being hyper focused on. This is how we solve the problem. So, the video that you watched of the, you know, the man picking up the dog, and then the dog is all better. Well, you know, as you watched a longer form video from that organization, it's like, okay, well, did, are they like a spay and neuter facility, or did they? Was it a vet that did, like, full health care? Or did they? Are they just the shelter who brought him home, and then they, you know, they worked with everybody else to kind of do the work, and now they're going to adopt him out. Like there's so many different ways to solve the problems that you're working on, whether it's homelessness or animal rescue or fire relief. So I think, to your point, it's this, the way we tell the story and how we uniquely solve the problem that's so important in that messaging when you're kind of affecting those various programs and how you talk about the different goals that you have for the different services you're providing,

Daniel Molina
yep, and Transparency is key, right? Don't have this black box that no one knows what's in it. That's when these people start to like, You got to be transparent. You got to let people know, like, Hey, here's how it's gonna get spent here. You're obligated for that anyway, through the government, but it's just there's too many in this kind of spiritual or political climate. You want to make sure that you are fully transparent, and people know where the money's going who's involved that way? They have confidence in supporting you, you know. And really to like, when you're starting to give to these organizations, you know, these organizations, if you're an organization that has a strong political stance that can hurt you, right? So when you talk about storytelling, like, be careful with trying to be too strong on your political stance, whether you're on the left or the right side of the aisle. It doesn't matter, like if your goal is really to help people, and nothing that you have to do is there to help. I mean, nothing that you have to do has anything to do with politics or social issues, then get out of that check that you know. Don't go on that soapbox. Don't try to have messaging that to support some kind of issue, help the people you're trying to help, without the political jargon, without the political because that will hurt you. And we, you know, I don't care. I'll take money from the left and I'll take money from the right. Money is money, and it'll spend whatever one I need to help my the people we're helping, right? And so for me, I have different political ideology than a lot of people here in Hawaii, but I'm not going to let that affect me. And I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to bench it, and that's not for my nonprofit, like, Hey, I'm going to help with anybody who wants to love people and help people. So that messaging has to come through, no matter what, lack of life, right? But then we start getting the storytelling of like, making a stand and attacking a side, then you alienate yourself, or you alienate people from being able to help you. And so I would obviously with with with politics or your fire, one, c3, you're limited anyway to what you can say anyway, but you can still talk about social issues. But again, if that's part of it, if, like, they say, you have a nonprofit, that it's because this political idea is why we have these issues, and that's fine. And then, yeah, be strong in that. And you're going to have people that's going to be strong in that. But if it has nothing to do with you know that, then, then you know, and then stop talking, trying to try to win on that hill. Like trying to be a voice box for that let the the lobbyists and all those people be the voice. You be the voice for the person who's earning and help them.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
I think that's so true, and I think especially right now. I mean, we're recording this podcast in February. It will not go live until, oh, geez, I don't know late, and I think it'll be a couple months before this goes live. April. No, just kidding, yeah, April, sorry, multitasking is not my strong suit when I'm trying to talk. But I think you know, what we're seeing right now is rapid fire changes that are coming and going. So like, Today is February 5, and so for example, it was even something as quick as the USPS is not going to be accepting packages from China. And then, like, 12 hours later, nope, that just got rescinded. And so I think to your point, we're living in this time of, like, up, up and down, up and down, up and down, no matter how you feel about what those ups and downs are. Things are changing rapidly and then going back, and then changing and going back. So I think simplicity, what I'm hearing from you is simplicity in your storytelling. Stick to the transparency, stick to the work that you are truly here to do, and the work that you know is going to. Make an impact, and right now, more than ever, shut out the noise and focus on the good that you're here to do, and that is what should be reflected on your website, and that is what should be the messaging you're sharing with people, and how you're going to cut through the noise and connect with your donors, just on a human to human level,

Daniel Molina
yeah, and I love how you frame that beautifully, and just as you're creating the content, don't put anything in your video that will, that will age the content. Yeah, you have to report it, right? And so if you're trying to focus on some political issues, social issue to your point of China, right? Or the new thing with deportation, and you're helping, you know, maybe you have an organization helping, you know, illegal people get health care or whatever, and then all of a sudden you have this strong video on your home page that talks about whatever. Well, then let's just say some law passes next month, executive order comes through saying, Hey, we changed our mind. Now your things dated. Well, they changed it. What are you talking about, right? And so try to not have content on there that will age you or put you into a season. Unless you have a lot of money to spend, you know, to redo the video staff, that's fine, but if you don't have a lot of money to invest into video, make sure that video is timeless. Like this will be a good video for today, and it'd be a good video five years from now, no matter what's going on in our political, spiritual climate, right? That's hard to do. But then again, if you have a videographer on staff and you know, oh no, we can pop this out, then, yeah, you could focus on kind of relevant. Don't be tone deaf to what's happening around us, right? And you can be more direct. But again, know your place, know what kind of nonprofit you are, and if that's part of the bylaws, it's part of what you do, then okay, you can be more aware of the climate and then not be tone deaf to what it's saying. But I think most nonprofits, at least for me, it's more to do with, like, trying to be tone deaf so that we could just deal with the issue. Because if I get wrapped up in this, it's gonna, you know, we're just gonna create wars, and it's just, it's just, it's not going to work. Yeah?

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Well, I think that goes back to your short form purposes behind short form and long form content. Keep your long form content timeless. You can have a little bit more leeway with your short form because it's not as produced. Yeah, right. And, and so I think that that's great. Okay, well, so many good things to think about. I really love that you brought up the timeliness of things. I think that's really important, and something we often forget as we start to put together our content strategies. But if you kind of had any last words of wisdom around kind of storytelling, how we start to put together, how we want to show up in the world, what might you want to leave listeners with?

Daniel Molina
I just think, you know, it's, it's just, you know, the testimony or the story of the redemption, again, going back to that, it's just tell that story and and tell the story truthfully, transparently, and just say, hey, here's how we help people. It's not, it's not rocket science. It's just like, tell a good story, and you look at, look at other nonprofits, how they're telling their story, you know, and just see how they're doing it, and it's okay to to copy how they do it, because they're copying it all the way back. Goes back to Greece, right? You know, I went to Greece with my daughter last year. And this is where theater started, right? We went to Philippi. I met Philippi. Amazing Delphi. We went to Delphi. Where theater, I think, began. We went and saw where the theater now they were worshiping, you know, the Greek gods, but whatever, that's where theater started. Is like the ultimate storytelling. We went to the the the genesis of in Delphi and so they so we off, copied all the way back to the Greeks. So it's okay to see something and be inspired by how they did it, yeah, tell the story. And so don't see if I don't want to copy them. Well, that's a big organization, and there's a reason why they're continue to be successful, right? And so be inspired. I see it not copying, be inspired about other organization, you know, from their stuff, and just tell a great story. It's just in the issue, you know, what's the issue? Get some stats. So I tell people, what is the issue? What are some stats around the issue? And then, and then, what is the solution? And then how they can get involved in and see the fruit of the solution. You know, that's the story. I don't care how what, however, it is, if you follow that, you're going to get conversion. You can get people want to be involved. You're gonna, you know, I helped the organization last year. I said, Hey, man, your website is garbage, and I'm just shoot. I shoot. You know, it's garbage. No one's want to donate to you, you know, yeah. And I said, You need to tell the story this way, say what I'm telling you. And they did a video. They didn't have a video of the head guy, the director, nothing like, why is not the director talking to people, you know? Why? Why aren't you not telling people like, you know, here, I'm the director. Right? And so we changed it the way I just said it, and then they, they raised way more money, right? And so, yeah, it's just that same simplicity. It's just, you know, again, it's the solution. Stats around the solution, not like my opinion about it. It's like, no, your actual stats, yeah, here's how we can help, and then here's the fruit of people helping.

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
Yep, that's so good. Well, Daniel, I really, really appreciate you taking time to share your insights with our listeners today, if people want to connect with you more and learn more about the work that you do, how can they do that? Yeah,

Daniel Molina
you can go to DanielMolina.life and and I'm going to make sure that is my URL, because I have there. It is not life, and it has everything about me, who I am and what I do, I

Sami Bedell-Mulhern
love it. And we will link everything up in the show notes at thefirstclick.net/297, so you can grab everything there, but Daniel, thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate it My pleasure. So big. Thank you again to Daniel for joining me in this episode again. You can find additional resources, links and information in the show notes at thefirstclick.net/297 we are getting closer to that crazy episode, 300 so excited, but thank you so much for listening. Hit that subscribe button so you don't miss our episodes. They come out weekly, and you never know when a bonus episode is gonna pop in there. And I would love it if you would leave a comment if you're watching this on YouTube, under the description to let me know what was your favorite takeaway, what did you really learn from this, and what are you excited to start to start to implement in your business for now? Thank you so much for listening and spending a little bit of time with me each week. I will see you in the next one.