As I took my seat on the flight out of Miami and away from the warm temperatures of South Beach, I wanted to give you the scoop from the 2010 MarketingSherpa Email Summit in Miami, Florida, while still fresh in my mind.

This year’s conference was all abuzz with the latest in Social Media, Email, and Mobile marketing. After a reported late influx of attendees, people took to sitting on the floor to listen to the first session, delivered by Dr Flint McGlaughlin. The discomfort was worth it by all accounts!

Here’s a statement from that session that I’d like to pass on to all GetResponse users:

Every email has an average of 7 seconds to prove its worth, so get to the point. Have a single aim in mind, and try not to clutter your message with 16 different links. As Dr McGlaughlin put it, “The more options we have, the more likely we’ll get lost”.

Reducing the options gives the email a clear purpose and the case studies he presented gave us powerful proof.

Another highlight on this year’s agenda was Joseph Jaffe’s presentation on email marketing for 2010. With impact statements such as ‘Flip the Funnel’, and ‘Social Influencers’, Joseph Jaffe had the audience on the edge of its seat!

I loved this one:

‘Don’t end with a sale, but start with one’. In other words, keep marketing! ‘Retention is the new Acquisition‘

I must say, this year’s event drew quite a variety of attendees, including Harold the Zombie at the NetProspex booth, and I almost forgot to mention the stage collapse just before the opening presentation!

The conference wrap up was “Email Marketing is alive and kicking”, which looked at new ways to integrate with its new partner, Social Media. I think next year’s event will be about how Social and Email platforms will integrate with mobile, but time will tell.

Thanks to all the great people I met this week, and I look forward to meeting with you all at next year’s Email Summit − and everywhere in between (apart from Harold of course).

Take it easy.

Mick Griffin