The overlooked secret of marketing

Seth Godin posted recently about the overlooked secret of marketing: time

Cherish my time. The second part is closely related. It has to do with respect. You respect my time when you don’t waste it. When you don’t spam me. When you worry about the 100 cars backed up on the road and figure out how to get us moving more quickly. You respect me when you value my time more highly than your own.

One thing I find is that some senders do not value others time very much. They demand attention from their recipients. They demand attention from ISPs. They demand attention from their ESP delivery reps. They are much, much more important than anyone else out their and their time is infinitely more valuable than anyone else’s.
This self importance actually translates through their mailing strategy. They spend infinite amount of time on details like MTA settings and sending rates. What they do not spend time doing is sending mail their recipients want to receive. They send the mail they want to send.
Their time would better be spent valuing the time of the recipients. Instead of figuring out how fast to send the mail and how many connections to open up to an ISP, they should really be focused on sending mail that the recipient wants. My clients who send mail that recipients want and look forward to do not have to worry about the mechanical details of the mail, their mail is expected and wanted and their delivery is spectacular.