I confess to probably spending more time than I should playing Mafia Wars, though I’m only a level 124 Maniac; my son’s friend is a level 700-plus something or other. Oh, to be young again.

Anyway, I noticed that one of the loot items they’re offering right now is a “Haitian Relief Drum.” It’s a nice idea poorly executed.

According to Wikipedia, there are nearly 26 million monthly active Mafia Wars accounts. Why not give them a real reason to buy the drum — and generate some real dollars for the relief effort?

The drum costs 25 reward points that are acquired by playing the game, or that one can buy directly. But why not offer the drum for a $5.00 donation that goes directly to Haitian relief? It then becomes something of a badge of charitable honor within the game while raising some real money for the cause.

Takeaway for marketers: Doing good business sometimes means simply doing good.

Yesterday on the BuxMont digital blog, I wrote about a book I recently found in a thrift shop: “Advertising Principles.” It was published in 1931, more than a quarter-century before the rise of the Mad Men era, and it’s fascinating to see how it discusses various areas of advertising, which we generally think of as a 1950s animal.

As I was preparing that BMd blog post, I came across the following answer to the question, “What is publicity?”

Publicity, as its name implies, is simply information of sufficient value to be run as news. Every statement, however, should be an unvarnished fact.

Bingo.

Takeaway for marketers: Just because something is news to your company or your client doesn’t mean it’s news to your intended audience. Consider that audience first and foremost when crafting your message.

Back on Christmas Eve, I told you about Seppukoo, a site that helps you commit virtual identity suicide. Facebook sent them a cease and desist letter, but they’re still here and doing the digital Kevorkian thing.

Meanwhile, suicidemachine.org is another site designed to help you eliminate your virtual self so you can spend more time with your actual self.

Snarky nature of these sites aside, I suspect there’s something bigger at play here: The clouds of a social media backlash may be gathering on the horizon. I first noted them back in September 2007, when kids at the Ypulse Tween Mashup conference were talking about the next big thing in social media being the unplugging from social media to focus on their actual lives.

That Facebook may be heading into court over Seppukoo is telling, too: Clearly they see the site more as a serious threat than a casual diversion.

Takeaway for marketers: Now, more than ever, as you operate in the world of Web 2.0 (I wish that buzzword itself would commit suicide!) you need to be focusing on providing value, not simply having a presence.

JANUARY 6 UPDATE: Facebook kills Suicide Machine.

Do you need a blog? Should you be tweeting? Should you be on Facebook? Should you be active on LinkedIn? Does an email newsletter make sense for your business?

The answer to those questions typically begins with two words: it depends. I blogged about this issue over here on the BuxMont digital site, so click on over to read the rest.

Takeaway for marketers: If your agency or consultant is giving you definitive answers without asking the strategic questions, it’s time to find another agency or consultant.

“The times are tough now
Just getting tougher
This old world is rough
It’s just getting rougher”

These days, it’s all too easy to hear the opening verse to Bruce Springsteen’s “Cover Me” and pull a muscle in your neck from nodding your head in vigorous agreement.

Times are tough, which means that agencies and contractors and consultants and such are working harder than ever to land new clients. Which means that all that time and effort spent to land a new client that winds up going elsewhere can be a big disappointment.

Or not.

I first heard from — well, for the sake of this post, I’ll call them Company X — back in April. A friend of mine knew about my online experience and thought they should talk to me: Company X has a modest Web site and they desperately need a redesign and some SEO 101 work done.

It took about two months before the initial conference call was set up. I spoke at length with the President and CEO of the company. We emailed back and forth. A designer-programmer team I know and respect got involved and provided estimates. By July I had assembled a detailed proposal and sent it over.

A month after sending over the proposal, I still hadn’t heard anything back from them. No acknowledgment of receipt. No “thanks, we’ll keep you posted.” Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Squat.

I continued to follow up without being too pushy, and in August received this message from the President and CEO: “We haven’t moved forward with anyone yet on this … still trying to determine the right price/value. Thanks for checking in.” Fair enough. That’s part of being in business: You propose, then you wait. And wait. And wait some more. And eventually, if you’re lucky, you get the gig and everything needs to be done yesterday.

But back to the timeline: In early September I receive this message from a manager in the company: “We have been doing some research and would like to speak to you.  Please call me when you have a chance.” Sounds promising. We speak. They want me to come to their New York office in September to deliver a capabilities presentation.

Nearly two months pass before I get a response from Company X regarding timing and specifics of the presentation. We set a date for early November. I circle back with my designer-programmer team, spend some significant time assembling the Powerpoint presentation and incorporating the inevitable and appropriate revisions to my original proposal called for by the passage of more than six months since we first spoke.

The presentation seems to go well enough, though I’m given the last slot of the day, they keep me waiting nearly 45 minutes before we can begin, there’s a room full of people (plus several more on the phone) they never told me would be there (despite my asking how many people would be there, since I wanted to bring the appropriate number of hard copies with me) and one person seems to be falling asleep during the time we spend together.

The meeting ends with an agreement that they would follow up immediately with additional information about a new component of the work they want done. After one week, it doesn’t arrive. It doesn’t arrive after two weeks, either. Three weeks after the meeting, they respond to yet another follow-up email with this curt and impersonal response:

“Thank you for your follow up email.  We have decided to go with another company.  We will keep you in mind if it does not work out.”

Thanks, but no thanks.

Yes, it’s always nice to bring on a new client, but the signals were there all along: Clearly Company X does not respect my time. They’re unable to respond to emails without relentless prodding to do so. When they do, there’s zero recognition of effort spent or value added. For example:

At one point, they wanted to know why Competitor Y was receiving so many inbound links when Company X and others in their industry received only a fraction of the number of links (as measured by HubSpot’s Website Grader). I researched the issue and provided a detailed answer. Never a word of thanks from Company X.

Working on a Web redesign project with Company X is clearly going to be a nightmare. I don’t know who got the gig, but I genuinely pity them. Whatever the number was at which they priced the job, they should have doubled it.

New clients are always welcome. New clients who are rude and/or disrespectful and/or arrogant and/or have a sense of entitlement are not.

Okay, there. I got it out of my system. But there really is a larger point to this rant:

Takeaway for marketers: The Golden Rule has a place in business. If you’re going through an agency or a consultant selection process, take it to heart.