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What’s changing at a very rapid rate, however, are the number of our email subscribers who are using mobile and smartphones to read their email and access the Internet. This brings to mind a couple email marketing mistakes that may be impacting the effectiveness of your email communications. But first, consider these statistics from the 2011 Pew Internet Project and its first standalone measure of smartphone ownership:

• 83% of American adults own a cell phone
• 37% of cell phone users use their phone to send or receive email
• 35% of cell phone owners are using a smartphone
• 87% of smartphone owners access the Internet or email on their handheld
• 66% access the Internet or email on their handheld in a typical day
• 25% of smartphone owners say they go online using their phone as opposed to their computer

I can back this up by saying that my own website analytics show a 60% increase in visitors accessing my site via mobile devices. I see a consistent increase in my clients’ mobile traffic as well.

This increased mobile access has many implications for our marketing, but for right now I want to focus on two areas that specifically impact your email marketing. These are problems you may not even be aware of, but they’re also simple things to fix.

Mistake #1: You’re not sending in both html and text.

Many small business owners I speak with are only sending their newsletters, ezines, and general communications in html. (These are the beautifully formatted emails with graphics and other images.)

The problem with this is that many cell phones only accept emails in text format. When they attempt to view your html email on their cell phone, they simply get a link to read the email online. That doesn’t make a great impression in my book, and it may annoy your reader. Plus, you get other issues if the web page they’re sent to isn’t optimized for viewing on a cell phone. But that’s another article.

Be sure that you or the person preparing your html email communications creates a version in text only. All email publishing services (1ShoppingCart, Aweber, Constant Contact, etc) will allow you to do both.

When I say “properly formatted,” I mean make sure that the text message is narrow enough to be read in a cell phone window without annoying your readers by having to scroll to the right to read it.

I find that a width of 30 characters will fit in just about any cell or smartphone window. A great tool that I like to use to format my email at this width is at www.formatit.com.

You don’t have to worry that your subscribers will receive two emails. They will receive one appropriate version (html or text) depending on how they are accessing the message. They’ll probably get the html version on their laptop, but they may get the text version on their cell phone.

Mistake #2: You’re not staying “above the fold.”

We often talk about keeping our most important information on our websites “above the fold” so that visitors don’t have to scroll down to see it. The same holds true for email communications.

You want to keep the most important information (enticing copy that keeps them reading; a call to action; or what’s included in your ezine) in the top third of your email. Why?

A 2007 study by JupiterResearch (now Forrester) discovered that 66% of email recipients that have preview panes use them to determine whether they’re going to continue reading a sender’s message.

Mobile devices have an area “above the fold” too. Your reader sees only a portion of the message, and then they see a link to read the rest of the email. You want to be sure that they click and keep reading!

Your Action Step

Get busy and make these changes to your email marketing this week! They’re very easy to implement, and they may increase how often your content is read and the number of click-through’s to your website. When you’re done, let us know and tell us your thoughts in the comments below, or on the Navigator Network on Facebook.

There’s a message out there today that we should do the thing that will make us a lot of money so we can become a millionaire and have the best of everything, and THEN we can use our money and our status to follow our passion and/or support charitable organizations and those in need. Because we’ve made a lot of money we can have a BIG impact.

Have we missed the boat here? Don’t get me wrong. There is nothing wrong with making a lot of money or being a millionaire. And many wealthy business owners have supported, in a big way, organizations that do social good and in some cases even started their own foundation or philanthropy. I applaud them. I thank them for doing their part. I’m glad they see the importance of giving back from what they’ve been blessed with.

But what about everyone else? Is there something wrong with that message that we have to work fast and furious to grow our business before we can consider helping others? How do we measure impact? Is it only about how many we can help or serve? Is it only about how much we can give? Does it only matter if what we can do or give has a lot of zeros behind it?

Small deed, big impact

In recent years, in my small city, roughly 100 children every month enter foster care. They are often neglected, abused, and of course they’re scared. A group of us formed and began to raise money and collect backpacks and overnight supplies so that every child who entered foster care would have a bag to travel with and take to school. This in place of the traditional black garbage bag they carried their things in.

It brings to mind the story of one little 8-year-old girl who entered foster care with her two younger siblings. This girl, like many oldest children in a sibling group, felt somehow responsible for the safety and well-being of her younger siblings.

Having the opportunity to help her younger family members pick out a beautiful new backpack and supplies brought a smile to her little face that hadn’t been there for quite a long time. It helped her take care of her siblings. It provided some security and a feeling that others cared for them too….that they were worthy. How do we place a value on that? How do we place a value on the lives of those little children?

It’s not all about me?

Can life just be about ourselves, everything we can acquire, and all the places we can go first-class? Probably not. Because we don’t just live in a vacuum, do we? Part of our reason for being on this planet is to help out our fellow man.

There is need all around us in our communities. There is need all around the globe. There are tragedies and needs that we can’t even begin to imagine.

One of my clients, ChildVoice International, works out of northern Uganda with former child soldiers. These young women, many of them child mothers, have seen and experienced horrors that affect their lives in profound ways. The ChildVoice vision according to Conrad Mandsager, President and CEO of the organization, is “to create a place where these rejected and vulnerable children can find refuge as they rebuild their lives through spiritual and psychosocial counseling, education, vocational and life skill training.”

Many of these young women start a business, but they need a small $100 micro-loan to make it happen. Small gift. Big impact. This program, this small loan, this business start-up provides independence and feelings of self-worth. It enables a mother to provide for her children and send them to school. She can break the cycle of poverty and raise the standard of living for herself and her family.

Your business does good

You started your business with the goal of making a profit. You may have started your business because there was something that you loved doing or creating that you wanted to bring to the world. Either way, you provide a product or a service that helps others in some way. I get that.

But there is a way to leverage your business for the greater good. You are in a very unique position, as a business owner, to send a message; to raise awareness; and to build support for causes that you are passionate about. That doesn’t take a lot of money. That takes desire, planning, and action.

Aligning your company’s mission, vision, and values with those causes that you believe in will do a world of good for the causes that need it, and the people and communities they serve. It will also build your brand to a new level as a socially responsible organization that uses its resources for good beyond its own walls.

Today, as people are becoming more socially conscious, that’s what more consumers want to see in organizations that they know, like and trust. And they buy from businesses they know, like and trust, and increasingly those who give back.

Think about it. How can you impact your brand, your customer, and those in need by using your business as a vehicle for change? Start small. Start today.

If you’ve created a cause related marketing or other socially conscious program within your business, please share it with us in the comments below.

Built on Genesis framework, using Mocha theme.

This website is currently in development. It was built using the Genesis framework, and the Mocha theme. The site incorporates widgeted areas in the sidebar, and integrates with various social media tools, a blog, and RSS.

Built with WordPress. Customized the Natural Essence theme. Logo, banner and graphics by NetMarketing Navigator.

This website was created for a church mission outreach program called Children of Hope Orphan & Foster Care Ministry. It highlights featured content on the home page, and incorporates a list-building mechanism on all pages of the site. www.childrenofhopewdm.org/

Built on Genesis Framework. Serenity theme. Web banner by Killer Covers. Web graphics by NetMarketing Navigator.

This is my own website that was built on the Genesis Framework, from StudioPress, with a customized Serenity theme. The home page was created for list-building by offering a free report that visitors can opt-in to receive using Aweber integration. It features an opt-in box prominently on every page. It also incorporates a blog and other social media integration, along with content-sharing tools.

Built on Genesis framework, using Agentpress theme. Web banner by 5dCreative.

This website was created for a nonprofit client, ChildVoice International. It was built using the Genesis framework, and customizing the Agentpress theme. The site incorporates sliding images, on the home page, that link to featured blog posts. It also features widgeted areas on the home page that link to featured content. The banner incorporates newsletter signup functionality for list-building. The widgeted sidebar intragrates with various social media tools, RSS, and links to the organization’s web store. The site is integrated with a Volusion web store which I customized to match the main website. www.childvoiceintl.org

It’s a theme that I hear over and over…business owners feel overwhelmed by managing their social media plan. You don’t have to spend hours on social media everyday, and I encourage you not to. Social media is just part of your marketing mix.

The video above introduces you to a free tool that can be a HUGE timesaver for you. It’s a tool that I use myself to post social media updates across multiple channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and to pre-schedule posts in advance. These two features alone will save you loads of time.

So, this week I want you to set up an account on Hootsuite, preschedule some social media updates, and let me know how it worked for you in the comments below!

Do you feel overwhelmed by keeping up with social media like Twitter and Facebook? One really easy (and fun) way to do it is to use your cell phone to Tweet or send Facebook updates. It makes riding the bus, or waiting in line more entertaining too! And since social media isn’t all about business, it’s about sharing your personal side and building relationships, I love to share special updates like watching my son hit a homerun at little league.

Disclaimer: I am NOT suggesting that you should tweet and drive, k? Just sayin’.

So this week I want you to set up Twitter or Facebook on your phone, and send an update. You don’t need a smartphone to do this. If you can text, you can tweet! Here’s how to set up Twitter on your phone:

1. Sign in to your Twitter account.
2. In the top right corner, drop-down menu, click “Settings.”
3. Next, click “Mobile” in the blue bar at the top.
4. Follow Twitter’s instructions to link your cell phone to your account.
5. Find the line that says, “Send tweets using text messages with this phone. Just send your tweets to _____.” Remember that number. In the U.S. it’s 40404. Add the number to your cell phone’s address book under “Twitter.”
6. When you’re out and about and ready to tweet, just send a text message to the “Twitter” contact in your address book.

You can do the same thing with Facebook. Go to http://www.facebook.com/mobile/ to link your phone to your Facebook account.

If you do have a smartphone, here’s a list of a few appliations that make staying on top of Twitter and Facebook updates even easier and more fun while on the go.

iPhone Apps

Twitter for iPhone

Tweetie

Facebook for iPhone

Blackberry Apps

Twitter for Blackberry

Open Beak

UberTwitter

Facebook for Blackberry

Android Apps

Twitter for Android

Seesmic

Facebook for Android

So, go link your phone to your Twitter account, then comment below with your success. BONUS ACTION: Send me (@julie_lsmith) a tweet from your phone and let me know you completed this week’s Action Item!

Recently, we did a little fishing one weekend. It was lots of fun watching our little boys try to cast their lines into the water and not snag the rocks or plants along the edge. It was kind of hard to catch any fish, too, when they kept throwing rocks in the water!

And it wasn’t long before we lost all three kids’ attention to the lure of more rocks, the container of worms used for bait, and the smell of hot dogs on the grill.

Here’s a tip: don’t be like our kids while fishing and let your attention wander to whatever the latest and greatest marketing fad of the week is. Pick one or two marketing strategies. Then, stick with it and get really good at them. Once you master them, and you’re seeing some results, add another strategy and master it. You won’t catch ANY “fish” if you don’t focus and stay consistent!