Seth Godin wrote a post back in April about the phrase, "I didn't have time." I'm just now getting around to writing a reaction to it, though. Below is an excerpt from his post:

This actually means, "it wasn't important enough." It wasn't a high priority, fun, distracting, profitable or urgent enough to make it to the top of the list...

The people you're trying to reach are always recalibrating which meetings they go to, which shows they watch, which books they don't read. The solution has nothing to do with giving people more time (you can't) and everything to do with creating more urgency, more of an itch, more desire.

I think this is extremely important to think about in conjunction with setting your priorities and living them out. "I didn't have time" simply means it wasn't a high enough priority.

This is also true for marketing and in startups. To reword Seth's last thought, the customers and prospects you are trying to reach are always recalibrating what sites they visit, where they shop, who they follow on social media, which emails they subscribe to, and what brands have their loyalty. The solution has nothing to do with give people more time to engage with your brand (you can't) and everything to do with creating more urgency, more of an itch, more desire.

This is the essence of a pull marketing strategy. Create a brand and products that force customers to pull your products out of you. Stop broadcasting and start building relationships.