Jamar Diggs: I love new ways of thinking of like how to use YouTube, right? Because it’s more than just the beauty gurus up there, it’s the place for us to be discoverable, and being creative like that really makes a difference.

Mallory Erickson: Welcome back to episode nine of What the Fundraising. I’m your host Mallory Erickson, and this podcast is for impact leaders and change-makers who are looking to fundamentally change the way they fundraise. Today, I’m interviewing Jamar Diggs, a YouTube marketing consultant. And you might be saying, wait, but I don’t use YouTube. And that’s exactly why we’re here. 

Jamar helps service-based experts rank on YouTube and Google Search so they can stop being slaves to the content spiral. With his corporate marketing experience, Jamar takes YouTube strategy and YouTube SEO, best practices to drive more problem-aware people to his client’s offers.

Can anyone say new funders? And let me tell you he is going to blow your mind when he drops the truth about what is possible for nonprofits. If they get on over to YouTube, plus you guys, he’s just one of the most fun humans ever. Okay. I just can’t wait any longer to introduce you to him. Let’s dive in.

Mallory Erickson: All right, everyone. I am so excited to introduce you to my new friend, Jamar Diggs. He is an expert in driving traffic to either your business or your nonprofit via SEO and YouTube. Like how to optimize YouTube. He’s going to be able to explain this a lot better than me because I’m going to be learning right alongside you today and figuring out how to do this.

But Jamar, welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. 

Jamar Diggs: Hi, thank you so much for having me. 

Mallory Erickson: Oh, I’m so excited for this conversation, and let’s just start with, like, I feel like I know you because I’ve been following you now for a little while, but for those who are getting to know you for the first time, just tell us a little bit about your background.

What brought you to this moment in time? Talking about YouTube, talking about SEO. Yeah. Tell us your story. 

Jamar Diggs: Yeah, so I am a corporate dropout. So I come from corporate marketing where my first job was working for a real estate portal marketing company for realtors. I was actually having to manage over two, 250 real estate agents’ accounts at one time.

Oh my goodness. And I quickly became a little burnt out. And so I went to go work for a mortgage company. And I did the social media there, I did a lot of YouTube there as well. So before I left, I started a whole YouTube project with them and we’d be at a studio. We did a whole thing grow. It was so great.

And that was when I started realizing I really enjoy this. Yes, Instagram is great, but I really liked this. But to ask me why I didn’t just go all-in on YouTube then, I have no idea because before then I’ve had my actual business ever since 2014. Right. So it was always a side business until most recently.

And so when I left my job and went full time, I think I did what everyone else that has a marketing background did, and just went with, like, the trend of helping businesses make money on Instagram. Right. And, but the funny thing that was going on there, it was, I was still posting on YouTube. 

Mallory Erickson: Oh my gosh.

Jamar Diggs: So posting on YouTube and also getting crowds from YouTube, but I was teaching people how to get clients from Instagram on YouTube. It was such a thing. And it got to a point to where most recently I was like, Jamar, you have been doing YouTube for so long now and you love it. Why are you not making that?

The thing that you teach about. Cause, like you love it so much, right? Instagram is just like a trend right now for us business coaches. Well, I don’t want to say a trend, but like, it’s something that everyone goes to. Right. But no one talks about it. YouTube, no one ever talks about it. Like I have been using YouTube for so long and having it built my email list, build my following, build my community. Be like, almost like my content hub so that people know who I am and can search for me and I can solve their problems without me even being a part of any real-time conversations. Right. But no one knew that until about like two months ago, I was like, oh yeah, this is what I do too. But I also get some from Instagram.

Yeah. Yeah. But YouTube is where I normally say. And it wasn’t until I did a post asking people: Hey, do you guys know that YouTube can do X, Y, and Z? And they’re like, no. What are you talking about? You mean, I can be noticed by certain keywords? You’re telling me that I can be found very easily? And that was when I was like, oh my God, I’m about to explode.

I’m about to share everything with everyone. And this is going to be where I dominate. I found my home. I can kind of come out of the closet of YouTube and finally, and finally do the thing that I was meant to do. And so ever since then, I have been helping other businesses, coaches, consultants, service providers, grow their business with YouTube and convert their channel into with paying clients.

Mallory Erickson: Amazing. Well, I have to say like, you know, when I found you, I also was like, gosh, I haven’t seen anyone else talking about this. And first of all, I just have to say, from like you sharing your story, one of my favorite things ever is seeing people just fully tapped into like their deepest selves. And you talking about your journey to that and like, ‘Yup. There he is.’ Right? 

Like it’s like he found it, that’s it, you know? And so what strikes me about what you do and what you talk about and how you teach is just like the authenticity. And I think when I started following you, I was like, wow, YouTube, the way he talks about it, but also the way he shows up there. And it does seem like YouTube is a channel to maybe be a little bit more authentic. Like you can show up in a bigger way. You can have, like, some longer-form content. You don’t need to be like, I’m never going to get the like, pointing real thing. I’m just never going to be that person. Right. Or like the jumping in my clothes change.

Like I, that would take me a full day to figure out how to do that. But I do feel like YouTube gives me a space to maybe like, be visible as myself without needing that same kind of like clickbaity visibility. So, and it feels like that’s part of what you’re saying too.

Jamar Diggs: Yeah. I feel like people probably won’t say that it’s easy, but to me, I think it’s very easy to where you just show up, sit in front of a camera and just talk and you can mess up and you can laugh, you can do whatever because it’s, you in front of the camera, and that’s really what people care about. 

Like when I mess up, when I maybe I’ll stutter or get tongue-tied, people love that kind of stuff. And sometimes sure I cut it out, but sometimes I keep it in because it’s funny. Right? But like, I get to show my personality, like my true personality that isn’t hidden behind a photo or a caption or a 15 second Instagram story.

Right? Or a reel that I have doctored up so much to not root to like people don’t really, I don’t see the real me. Right. And so it’s something about how easy it is to just cut on your camera. And just talk and teach and share your expertise and share your value. That makes it so appealing to me and so easy.

And there’s something about how easy it is to build trust with a platform like that too. Right. Because you’re sitting there and you’re looking at this person in their eyes for what? Five to seven minutes? I don’t know if I looked inside someone’s eyes for five to seven minutes I think we’re going out on a date.

Right. So I feel like I blend, like you’re building that rapport because you are literally answering questions. You’re adding value. You’re giving them, they’re staying with you. Right. And so you wouldn’t be looking at someone. And not liking them after seven minutes. Right. You just go on to somewhere else.

Right. And so building that trust factor is so much easier when it comes to YouTube, because they’re much more quality people. 

Mallory Erickson: Mm, I love that because obviously, you know, marketing, you talk about know, like, trust. In fundraising we talk about know, like, trust, so much and trust just being a huge thing around like how someone decides to get involved in your organization or give to your organization.

And so I love that kind of distinction, you know, for nonprofits who are sitting here thinking like, ‘God, I’m so overwhelmed with the growth in social media’, like, ‘do we start a TikTok account?’ And I feel like YouTube provides …you’re right it’s hard for different reasons which we’ll talk about, but it just provides a space to go deeper and in perhaps a way that feels more authentic to the nonprofit sector.

Jamar Diggs: Yeah, for sure. 

Mallory Erickson: So tell me a little bit about what are your kind of top suggestions around how someone, you know, be it a business entity or an individual because it all relates nonprofit. How do you suggest they start around like posting on YouTube? What types of content should they be thinking about as, like the appropriate content for YouTube?

Jamar Diggs: Yeah. So there’s a certain way that I always suggest doing this. Right. And so I have to say this bill, because I say it on anywhere that I go. Right. So YouTube is a search engine, it’s actually the second largest search engine, and it’s owned by the first largest search engine, which is Google. Right? And so the purpose of a search engine is to deliver us the most accurate information possible. Period. That is their job. That is the robot’s job. If it’s not doing that. If, if I’m trying to go to a golf course and you take me to a zoo, I would be pissed. Right. That is the issue, right? Like that is the point. Their job is to serve the searcher, the most accurate information possible. Okay.

And what that does for us as the creators, as the business, as the nonprofits, that means that we have a chance to be discoverable. Right. But to the right people. Okay. And so with that being said, I always recommend starting out with educational content first. Right. Because that is one of the most searchable and rankable pieces of content out there right now.

Right. Because people are using Google and YouTube as search engines to find answers to problems, to find answers to questions. Right. And so we need to be able to give content that is answering that question, right. Maybe in the nonprofit sector is not a pain point or it’s not an actual problem, but it’s a question of like, what is on their mind.

Right. They’re researching that. Like, why should they be giving? Right. Well, let me figure out what is really the statistics of this issue that is going on in the world, right? Like, you know, I think about it like that, right. People are searching for that because I know before I give my money to anyone, I want to know how bad is it. 

Mallory Erickson: Totally!

Mallory Erickson: No, no, no. It’s such a good point because my guess is that most nonprofits, if they think about like YouTube, they’re thinking, ‘okay, if we’re going to get out there and be visible, what we need to be showing is like the impact of our work or like this like story’, you know, ‘outcomes story of what we do’. And what you talk about that I love is, you know what? In order to get quality leads, which for a nonprofit is like a funder, right?

So if you’re going to, if you want to get a quality funder, they need to be coming to you. And ready to donate once they already have a good understanding of the problem, then going to your donation page on your website before they really understand the problem that you’re working to solve, that’s not a quality lead.

You talk about that, you know, in terms of like service providers, like your issue, like, I think this was a few days ago, you talked about like, it’s not a traffic issue, it’s a quality traffic issue. Right. And that YouTube is, ‘look I’m learning’! But you know, I think that’s so true for nonprofits to be thinking about too.

I think they focus all of their time on the solution that they’re providing and maybe not all of it, but maybe 75, 25%. And there’s a huge funnel that needs to be built around educating people around the problem that their organization is out there to solve. 

Jamar Diggs: Yes. And so that is the biggest content piece that I recommend nonprofits do.

Jamar Diggs: Well, anyone does, right. And there are two more. Now, these other two are supplementary, right? So the second one is. One of the trends or things that are happening in the industry that you want to give your opinion on, or you want to, kind of like, hop on the trend. Not like a Tik Tok trend, like a common conversation that’s happening.

Right. A comment like a, maybe something was in the news this week. Right? And we want to hop on that because it relates to our like nonprofit in some kind of way. Right? We want to talk more about it. We want to deliver our opinion. Like what can you do to help with this, right? This is what you can do, right?

People are looking for how they can help with certain things. Let’s just say, like, let’s just say that there’s like something happening and they want to know like, What’s going on in this area? How can you give to this area? That could really be a really good title of like how to help people in this city dealing with X, Y, and Z.

If it’s a really popular thing that’s going on, popular was probably the wrong word. But if there’s something that needs like assistance, right. So does that make sense? Like just hopping on a trend or something that is getting more attention and you want to insert the organization in there to like, kind of be seen for like funders or people who want, who want to give people who want to donate things like that. 

Mallory Erickson: Yeah. I’ll just give like a quick example for nonprofits to like, kind of drive this home because I think it’s such a good point, right? So there are all these conversations happening in our industry, constantly around trends in giving or to ways that organizations are sort of representing the work that they do. A particularly right now, like the adoption of community-centric fundraising principles and, you know, people making this great organization, she’s the first just did an Instagram post the other day about why they stopped the sponsorship of girls. Like they’ve, they’ve basically broken apart from their donation, you know, how they used to allow people to donate, to stop sponsoring girls because they are making a real effort to have kind of an anti-oppression approach to giving.

And so that is like a perfect way to say, Hey, here’s this bigger conversation happening around this thing and here’s exactly how it relates to what we’re doing at our organization. 

Jamar Diggs: Oh yes. I love that. Oh, that’s perfect. Yes, exactly. So that mixed with the educational. Content is going to be really good because what happens is that your educational content is mostly evergreen, right?

It will last forever is relevant at any time of the year, basically, right. Two years from now is still relevant right now. The themes now, like something like that, that trending topic that you have is probably popular for like that one month or that one week or something like that. So you do have to kind of hurry and jump on that.

And so it’ll give you like that traffic that you want for like a short amount of time. Right? But those people are probably not staying it’s up to you to retain them. And we talk about a few ways, um, later on in a minute and then, the third type of content is going to be that personal, that relatable content, like that behind-the-scenes content.

Right? But this last piece of content should only be used after you have done a few of the trends and the educational content first, because what happens is like the first two content that I mentioned, they are there to bring in the traffic and they’re there to build the community, right? They’re there to help you get the subscribers to help you build that community.

They help you get them up once you’re evolved in this, right. That’s going to be what people are going to be coming from the most. This last piece of content is to help them stay is to nurture the people that are already there that are already with you that are already like cool with you. And they’re just like, you guys give them a little bit extra love. Right? 

So like girl, we know what you do, we know the impact, but you show us the impact now. Right? That’s when you can show what you’ve done, right. That’s where you can do your recap. That’s when you can do your behind-the-scenes stuff, right? Your fun stuff. Cause that’s a treat for the people that are already in the community, but we shouldn’t be making that the thing that we do all the time.

Mallory Erickson: I love that. Oh my gosh. I really love that. Those three things. And we’ll write all this down so people can grab this below because this is amazing. 

I have a question. So I’m thinking about… from the perspective of a nonprofit, I wonder if one of the things they’re wondering is, you know, okay, we have individual donors and corporate donors and foundations, right?

So in some ways, the nonprofit, when they’re visible has a few different audiences that all give to them. Right. All fund them in different ways. When they think about their YouTube strategy. How important is it that they really pick one audience to be speaking to? 

Jamar Diggs: Hmm. That’s a good question. This is what I would do.

So one, of course, we have to pick what is the audience that is going to be the most impacted by YouTube, right? Which of those audiences are actively looking for things. Right? Cause here’s what the real thing is. It doesn’t matter what organization, what the funder, like how big the funder is. If they found you, I’m pretty sure someone lower level or mid-level are searching for the answer. Is searching. Right?

 And then they’re proposing to fund you guys, right. Or they’re looking at like, so it’s not really like the big company is like, the CEO is like looking on YouTube. It’s, uh, it’s most likely in most cases, even for-profit agencies, right? It’s always like a PR person or some other, like not lower level.

I don’t want to call it low level, like a none…C suite executive that is looking for these things. And sometimes for them to build a case on why they look for information that you’re giving on YouTube, you’re helping them kind of state that case. And so I’m in my head to answer your question. I like to challenge people to say yes.

So we’re speaking to this one person, but maybe when it comes to the nonprofit sector was speaking to this type. Of feeling, right? We’re speaking to this type of person who has this feeling, right? Because the person that is the, if a C-suite executive says, Hey, we have this budget of funding to give to nonprofits, what should be the ones that we want to support, right?

What should it be? Or are we going to, like, survey our employees to ask them which organizations they want to give to? Those are the people that you’re probably going to want to be reaching out to, those people who have those ties to the emotional ties to your organization. Does that make sense?

Mallory Erickson: Totally. So I love that and I think there are actually a few pieces here that you’re making me think about. You know, one is that, especially around the education piece, what I think is actually really interesting about that is that my guess is that, you know, the education piece could be providing a sort of trust for individual donors or maybe corporate sponsors and foundations, but typically they are educated or at least think they are on the issue, right. That they are solving. 

But, what those entities might be interested in is actually even funding your education. So one of the things that I’ve seen with some organizations that I work with is like, yes, their education modality, whatever that is, is like the end goal of that has an individual donor component, but then they get corporate sponsors to capacitate their creation of that educational content because they also want people to be educated about this issue.

So I think what you’re really pointing to is like, look, I mean, I love going back to that question of: what are people searching for, and how does that relate to what you’re putting out?

Right. Like, I think that is just such a good, fundamental question to be coming back to. And then if you’re like, okay, well, this really speaks directly to our individual donors then. Okay. Then have it be a strategy related to your individual donors, and if you have a video, then that like goes wild, people go wild for send that link when you’re asking for sponsorship of your education with these other entities and sort of leverage show people what you’re doing.

Because that’s another thing that you’re making me think about is how much YouTube can demonstrate the work of nonprofits. You know, in the service provider sector, you and I, we’re out there teaching all the time for free, right?

So that people have a sense of who we are and what we do. And they know that, wow, if I got that from him for free, just imagine what his paid services are going to do. And I think nonprofits have not figured out, from what I’ve seen at least, really how to like crack that. That, like, you’re trying to get funders to fund your education on X, Y, and Z.

Get out there and start teaching on it. Let them watch you, let them see how you build an audience there. Let them see how you’re respected in that space. That is just going to go so far in terms of the way it supports your organization. 

Jamar Diggs: Oh my gosh. Yes. Oh my God. I have goosebumps. 

Mallory Erickson: I just think you are tapping into something like that is just so necessary. And I haven’t seen anyone talk about, and the nonprofits I’m just really grateful to you for like, dropping all this wisdom for this community. 

Jamar Diggs: Oh my God. Yes, of course. I love new ways of thinking of how to amuse YouTube, right? Because it’s more than just the beauty gurus up there. It’s more than just a place where kids can, like, watch YouTube kids so that the parents can just kind of do their thing.

Right. It’s more than just that it’s it literally is a search engine is a place for us to be discoverable and being creative. Like that really makes a difference. Me organization. Really? 

Mallory Erickson: Yeah. I love that. 

If you’re loving this conversation and want to learn more about how you can become more comfortable with visibility and video in your fundraising work.

Then you need to head over to malloryerickson.com/free and join my upcoming webinar about how you can raise more from the right funders without obnoxiously hounding them. I cannot wait to see you there. Okay. So let me ask you, because another reason why I feel like I’ve really gravitated to you very quickly was because I feel like you are really great at kind of breaking down the problems that people think they have and helping them see the problem that they actually have.

And I talk about this in fundraising all the time. And I joked with you about this before that I say often, like: You don’t have a fundraising problem, you have an asking problem, or you have an email correspondence problem, or you like… let’s get real and let’s solve for the actual problem, because as long as you think you have a fundraising problem, you’re going to keep creating new fundraising activities.

And you’re going to be like, now we have to do this gala and now we have to do this event and now we have to do this campaign. And this is what I see in the sector all the time. And these nonprofits are running themselves, ragged, you know, just doing everything under the sun because they’re convinced they have a fundraising problem. But actually, they could fix something and they could fix the asking problem, they could fix the email correspondence problem, they could fix the prospecting problem because there isn’t actually a fundraising problem. 

And you talk about that in terms of YouTube and getting out there and videos. So, tell us a little bit about, like, from your perspective, what are the true biggest barriers to people getting on YouTube?

Jamar Diggs: Oh, my gosh. So what they think the barriers are, would be, they need the right equipment. They don’t know what to post up there. They don’t know… What’s another one? Oh gosh. They think that their market is so saturated that it just doesn’t make sense for them to be up there. 

Those are like their barriers. Like they just feel like, oh no, I can’t, right? Or they think that they’re maybe like, camera shy or, you know, like they just don’t feel good on camera or things like that. And so, what I like to say is … The thing that I hate the most is when people say that they can not do something, right? I cannot stand that because I have been through so much in my small life where I had to be resilient AF.

And so, when I hear that you can’t hop on a dang camera and talk to it. I am like, we have some issues here and I’m like, ho-ney! I’m like, wait a minute. Okay. But the problem is, is that they get in their own head. And so when I hear: “Oh, I’m just not really good on camera. I’m just so nervous. I just couldn’t do it. It’s just too much.”

It normally is the, are the people that are perfectionists. And they perfectionist themselves to death. They literally do, right? Even I’m one, but, but I had to get over it. And so what happens is that they don’t have a plan in place. That is the issue, perfectionist thrive upon a plan. Right? 

So, if you’re sitting here telling me that you just want it to be perfect, I’m going to ask: “Okay, so cool. So what’s your plan to make it perfect?” And then they’re like, “Oh, damn”. Right? That’s kind of what happened. And so I always go in and say like, then you need to have a plan. You need to have a plan of what you’re going to post that day. Like it just really, it just comes to being prepared. And so for me, I used to be very, very afraid of going live.

I used to be afraid of doing these things because I would just shoot from the hip and then, whatever happens, happens. Right? And then I’d hate the finished product because I screwed myself over because I didn’t prepare. I know that, like, to be prepared. I’m like stuttering. I’m saying ‘uhmmm’ all the time. I’m doing all these things. 

And so, what I always recommend is actually make a plan, make a whole plan. What do you want to say in your video? What is it that you want to convey in this video? Fill it out for as much as possible. 

Like I, so the way that I teach my classes, I have a scripting formula. Right? And so for example, I have like this HIT formula, right? And so for the intro, the H stands for hooking them. Right? So hook them in the first couple of seconds, right? Start off with like, maybe like a question or something that, like, makes them think right. Something that like, kind of like shocks them a little bit.

Right. And then the I is where you introduce yourself. Right? So we don’t want to start a video that says: Hi, my name is Jamar, I do YouTube. I do X, Y, and Z.” They don’t care yet, they search for an issue. Ask a question that relates to the issue to let them know that that they’re in the right place. Right?

Make them know that they didn’t get catfished on YouTube. Right. And so, because that’s what we’re thinking. We’re clicking through so many videos to make sure that… to find the right one that’s where they’ll answer our question. So in the first couple of seconds, let them know that they’re in the right place. Right?

And then introduce yourself, say “I’m Jemar. I help X, Y, and Z do this.” And then the T is for the transformation, right? By the end of this video, you’re going to be able to know X, Y, and Z. Let them know what they’re getting out of the video before they get to dig on metal. Right? They need to know.

Right. So let them know in the first 30 seconds, what is it going to be. Do like something very, very simple. I’m going to make this up. If you don’t mind me just doing this real quick. Something like, are you struggling on YouTube? Do you know what the posts? Whatever right. And that’s an I’m Jamar Diggs and I help coaches and consultants get clients with YouTube.

And in this video, I’m going to show you how to do blank that way. By the end of this video, you will have everything that you need to make sure that your next client comes from YouTube or, you know. That was very, very ugly and vague, but you get what I’m saying.

Mallory Erickson: No, it makes total sense. Totally. Totally.

Yes. And you’re saying something, I just want to say this really quickly for the nonprofits listening to this, that I can imagine that you’re going to have a big desire to share the mission statement of your organization and all the programs that you do. And what I really want to encourage you to do is to.

Follow this formula, like, are you looking for answers about blank? My name is Mallory from _____ (blank) organization. And by the end of this video, you’re going to have an understanding about the interaction between blank and blank and why that matters for blank, right? Go. And then at the end, you can say, you want to learn more about our organization.

Please go to blank. Because the thing I love that you’re saying that really overlaps with how I teach inside my course, power partners and everything is about lenses. So often people go on camera thinking about things through their perspective, right? They’re like, I want everyone to know about this great seventh-grade math program that we have.

Right. So, so like, I want everyone to know that, so I should tell them and it’s like, no, they came to you. Like going back to your thing, like, I’m gonna like put that on my wall. Like, why did people show up on that video? That is just so brilliant. And I think, honestly, for me even thinking about YouTube as a search engine, which I don’t think had been in my brain until you said that I’m like, boom, it’s just wildly different.

Just with that reframe how differently I’m already thinking about the purpose of it. 

Jamar Diggs: Yes. Yes. And like the beauty of it, I mentioned that YouTube is the search engine. Right. But you know, the other half of it, like we can’t deny the other half, which is, it is still a social media platform. Right. But it’s just more of a search engine.

Right. And so sometimes the social media side takes the back end, or we like to think that, but really the social media side momes in when YouTube is going to reward like any social media site. The goal of that social media site is to keep people on the app for as long as possible. Okay. So what does that mean for us?

That means that along with us, optimizing our videos with, like, the right titles and tags and description to be found and to be discoverable, we also need to make really good content in order to keep them watching the video all the way through. Right. At least 50%. And so we need to make sure that we are also keeping them other than that video and also directing them to other videos that we have to, right.

So we need to keep them on the YouTube platform for as long as possible. And then when, when that happens, that’s telling YouTube, this is a great video, right? 

This video needs to be shared to other people because it’s keeping people up on the app longer and they’re going to other videos after they watch it.

Right. Do you see what that means? 

Mallory Erickson: Yes. Oh my God. Yes. So how do you do that on YouTube? Do you have a little box pop-up with a link to the next video? How do you make sure that, because I think I said at the end, like go to, you know, maybe our website. But what you’re saying is so smart and obviously, you’re the expert, so I’m making it up, but tell us how do we get them to go to another video.

Jamar Diggs: Yeah. So it’s very, very easy. It’s in the settings. Like literally, literally, as soon as you upload your video, you have to fill out all these fields or you should fill out all these fields. So there are two ways for you to do this. The first way is called an info card. And so an info card is something that you can add a link to a video while the video is playing.

Right. And so what happens is while you’re watching the video, this little thing comes over your screen. And it says like …visit up the video that we link to this video. And so that’s very helpful if you’re talking about something in this initial video, and you’ve already done a video about it before you can say, I talk about this way more in detail in blank video, you can click the card above to watch that after you watch this one.

Right. Or you could say today where I’m talking about X, Y, and Z, but before you hear about this, and if you haven’t watched this other video is very important that you do that and then come back here. Right. It stays. If it’s like something that is very important for them to watch, you can link that card so they can watch that, that video. And then come back to this one. Right?

Now. That’s how cards work. And you can do that for individual videos, or you can do that for an entire playlist as well. Right? And then in the last 20 seconds of a video, there’s this thing called an end screen. Right. So doing the end screen is kind of like, what are the calls-to-action that you want to happen?

Right. And so for newer accounts, you can do either your subscribe button and two other videos that you want to recommend. And then you’ll just be able to just add just like that one end screen. So there are two options there, info cards and end screens. 

Mallory Erickson: Amazing. Okay. I just think that’s such good tangible advice and what I feel like you showed there, and just going through that with me for a second, is like: The answers are there. You know, I think like going back to what you said before about the perfectionist tendency, this is something I also coach around a lot and there’s just a lot of, you know, fundraising in general and the nonprofit sector, in general, is just kind of clouded in a lot of fear. 

And it’s not misplaced fear necessarily, it’s a really challenging sector for a number of reasons and sort of the history of the nonprofit sector and the history of giving and money being as taboo of a subject as it is these fundraisers who I really feel like are like unsung heroes. Right. But they deal with a lot of, you know, rudeness. Or I’m sure you can imagine what people, you know, inviting people to give deal with.

Right. And so, and so that leads them to this like cycle of perfectionism, right? Like, I’m sure there are people listening to this right now who are like: “Well, I really want to do that, but like, I’m not the expert in _______ (blank). So how could I ever make a video that was educational about the topic? Because I don’t know everything. What if I say something wrong or something that’s not good enough. And then someone calls me out on it and then a donor doesn’t want to give”, righ? 

They just like immediately go down and spiral through like the perfectionism of all of it. And I think something, I didn’t tell you this before, but before I, you know, really launched my business in a big way.

I recognize some of these patterns in myself and I hired a visibility coach. I said, you know what? I am nervous about being visible. And I can tell that I’m nervous about criticism and I’m nervous about… I want to be liked and you know, all these things that were really holding me back from, like, launching in the way doing what I knew would transform the sector.

And, you know, so that’s one example of kind of, like, solving for the actual problem. Right? The actual problem, I would’ve told you all day, it was about my camera. I remember, like, my camera’s bad, my microphone’s bad. Like had stories for days about why I wasn’t turning on things. Right. And why I wasn’t I doing things.

But when I really asked myself, what’s here? Like, what’s coming up? What’s the real reason I won’t go do this? It was all about being visible, being criticized, being imperfect, all of those things. And so, you know, one thing that I think you’re saying, and that you incorporate. 

Like, if you’re listening to this and you’re like, oh my God, I want to learn more about YouTube and SEO, you’ve got to… I will have the links below for Jamar’s website. We’ll have him share, like, his favorite freebies and you need to go check him out and get into his program. Because one of the things I love about you and that I feel like we see more outside of the nonprofit sector and not enough inside it, is the integration of coaching and skills.

And I think you do such a good job being like, yeah, okay. Here’s how you do that post thing or whatever that leads you to the next video, but also let’s make sure that you’re not getting hung up on X, Y or Z thing. Cause like I’m seeing that kind of lack of action there and I think that actually has nothing to do with the technology. And so I just love the way you bring it together like that. 

Jamar Diggs: Thank you so much. I really love doing that cause, like, I feel like, yes, I’m a coach, but I also have this skill set and you just can’t have the skillset, cause there’s a lot of other things happening in our brains. Right? That’s why it’s so hard to like, just do it.

Right. Anything that we do. So, yeah. Thank you. 

Mallory Erickson: No, I totally, and you know, a lot of the other folks who are coming on this podcast are like BJ Fogg who wrote Tiny Habits is coming on to talk about habit and behavior design, and Dr. Ethan Cross, who wrote Chatter is talking about kind of the inner dialogue in our head.

So it is all of these things, right? All of these things that relate to fundraising that relate to being our authentic self, that relate to being visible, that truly make good fundraisers. You know, everyone tells me, like, oh, I got to go to that grant writing workshop. And I’m like, that’s not the problem. It’s just not the problem. 

Jamar Diggs: Yes. And like, what happens is like not only like visibility, that is the issue. It’s also like that comparison syndrome of like they see other people doing it well, and then they think I just can’t do it as good as they can, so then why try?

And that’s the most defeated response ever, right? I’m like, no, you have opportunities to do it better, but you don’t even need to even do it better. That’s the fun thing. That’s the better thing you don’t even have to because they’re fundraising their own stuff and you’re fundraising your own. Because there are enough people in this world there are enough views in this world for both people to benefit and to be profitable.

So I think that we forget that too, to where it’s like less like kind of mind our own business. Right? And just get to work. Because all of this other stuff about like, think about this, I think about… is sad right? And I think it’s so funny whenever I think about it this way, but imagine the stuff that we say about us working in this sector, right.

Imagine if we were kids in preschool, and we were comparing this to playing in a sandbox or playing anything; we’re doing recess, right? We’re saying I don’t want to play kickball because Billy’s better than me. And you’re like, if you don’t get your blood out, And play some ball. It takes more than just Billy to be on a team.

Right. And so it’s like, but like to that kid, the kid thinks that it’s like the biggest issue in the world. Right. But on the outside it’s like, no, it really isn’t. That’s how it is when we’re adults, but we just don’t think about it that way. Right. We think our problems are much more bigger than what they are, but it’s not; it’s our own mindset. 

And so I hope that analogy was helpful because that’s really what it is. That whole comparison and that whole doubting ourselves, it doesn’t change, it just evolves.

Mallory Erickson: I love that, and I think the other thing that I’m thinking about just in talking to you, is the idea, you know, inside the service sector, like what you and I do.

We think about two things. We think about magnet marketing, and we think about ideal clients. And these are words that are foreign to the nonprofit sector for most people. But the thing that I love about the ideal client is that when you make that distinction, like this is my ideal client, you also get to let go of everyone else.

And I feel like the nonprofit sector doesn’t do that. Right. They’re like, we want to be for everyone. And I’m like, well then you’re for no one. But if you get out there, people aren’t going to be attracted to who you are, what you bring, what you do, you know. And yes, you are not going to be for everyone, and that is no problem. 

And I taught this in my course called power partners. And the thing I say a lot is like, the goal is not that everyone is your power partner, that they’re not going to be. But the only way to find them, the only way to find them is to tap into what is distinctly you, your organization. What are the assets of your organization?

How do you identify them? How do you align them with what your funder is looking for? And then show up in that way. And yes, I was just saying to my, one of my staff members. I said, “You know, it’s crazy. In the last two days, I’ve gotten a really mean email, really mean email. And then I literally just got an email from someone like, you know, thank God for you.”

And I was just like, this is the price of visibility. This is the price of picking a position. This is the price of being fully authentically something. You know, is that some people are going to love you, and some people are gonna hate you. But you will never find those rabid fans, you will never find those power partners if you don’t take a position and let yourself be you. 

And I think that YouTube, and especially the way you teach it, is just like gosh, that’s the way. That’s the way to just get to show up and sinc in and I’m just so excited to take everything you teach and apply it to my work and get over my made up barriers even about the technology and all of that.

So I’m just so, so grateful for you. So before I ask you our final question, where can people find you? Where should they go? And what are some resources you think they should start with to get a feel for what it would be like to work with you? 

Jamar Diggs: Yeah. So you can find me on YouTube. Jamardiggs.com/youtube, or you can also find me on Instagram @jamardiggs. My Instagram stories are pretty lit. I do this all myself.

Mallory Erickson: They’re amazing. 

Jamar Diggs: And if you’re looking for like a little glimpse of how it is work with me, or like a little bit extra, like, like value, I do have a free resource, it’s a YouTube starter guide. And it’s about like a 10, 15-minute video where I walk you through some things to highlight while you’re getting your YouTube channel up and running. Right. And so I kind of covered those things. So if you’re ever like, kind of thinking about starting YouTube after this podcast and definitely download that freebie, because that way you’ll know exactly what you need to do in order to at least get it up.

Mallory Erickson: Amazing. Okay, go check that out right now. And then, you know, my final question, because I love the nonprofit sector. I mean, I give it a lot of tough love because I really see the potential in this sector if we can step out of some of our old-school ways of doing things. But as part of my sort of love notes to the sector, I love to invite our guests to share a nonprofit they love so that everyone listening can go check it out and give if they’re able.

So tell us about a nonprofit that’s near and dear to your heart. 

Jamar Diggs: Yeah. So I love the LGBT life center in Norfolk, Virginia, that’s where I am from. And they do such a great job with the LGBTQIA +community here. And they just offer so many resources for them up to like housing people, housing teens that have probably been kicked out.

Right. All the way to like HIV testing, right? And clinic support. Right. So they do so much for people. It goes up, they just do so much, and I just definitely invite everyone to kind of just take a look at their missions, take a look at what they do and how they impact the world, and definitely give if you can.

Mallory Erickson: Yeah. And I’ll make sure those links are below too. So thank you for sharing that. I’m excited to go check them out and just thank you so much for spending this time with us today and dropping so much knowledge in this short call. I’m excited for everyone to implement everything you brought up.

Jamar Diggs: Yes, thank you so much for having me.

Mallory Erickson: Wow. Okay. You guys. I know what I’m doing after this. I am going to jump off this and go get on YouTube. Are you with me or what? 

Thank you for spending this time with us today. I am so grateful for all of my listeners, especially you, and the good hard work you’re doing to make our world a better place. If you want to walk away with the hottest tips and tricks from this episode and how you can fundamentally change the way you fundraise using mind-blowing hacks like these, head on over to malloryerickson.com/podcast for the detailed show notes. And a lot more tips from my 15 years of fundraising. You’ll also find more information about Jamar there, including a link to jamardiggs.com to learn more about his incredible work and find out how you can work with him to rank on YouTube.

And if you miss me as much as I miss you between episodes. Stop by and say hello on Instagram, under whatthefundraising_.

Have a great day and I’ll see you next week.