Connect to your clients: Become a viral video star

Meeting with customers face to face is vital to earning more referrals and winning more business. But it can often be a difficult task given busy schedules, long distances and the sheer number of clients you serve.

An innovative solution is to deliver short messages via video. There are services that help you easily create and deliver personalized video content to clients, which you then e-mail. (Check out www.AdvisorTLC.com for one example.) They also pass your video through compliance for approval before transmitting. You can record a video and post it on your own YouTube channel. (See mine for reference: www.YouTube.com/redzonemarketing.) Three minutes seems to be a palatable video length for busy people. You can use video for a number of things:

• Deliver market updates
• Provide education
• Give referral introductions
• Transmit thank you messages
• Announce special events
• Product information

The biggest benefit to using video, beyond crafting a more personalized message, is the ability to go viral. For example, one entrepreneur videotaped himself and his staff singing a quick "Happy Birthday" that each of his clients receives in an e-mail on their birthday. He has already counted 14 referrals from clients who have passed it along to their family and friends.