What? You don’t have a Twitter account yet? Why not? Here are just a few things Twitter can do for you:

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• Connect you with current clients and patients.
• Connect you with other professionals.
• Expose your practice to an interested audience.
• Increase traffic to your website.
• Build your brand awareness.
• Build your professional credibility.
• Keep you current with industry news.

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Still unconvinced? Here are yet more good reasons to get Tweeting:

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• You don’t have to be great writer or love to blog. A “tweet” by design is limited to only 140 characters–about as long as the text in this bullet point.
• Twitter is social.
• Women are social.
• Women are your biggest market.
• Tweeting is easy.
• Creating a Twitter account is easy.
• Creating a Twitter account is free. (Since when do you turn down free exposure?)

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Get Tweeting and get more business. Twitter.com

1. Sell the benefits.

We all want to be happy, to enjoy fulfilling relationships and vibrant health. And we would prefer all our days to be beautiful and trouble free. Drug companies know this, and they spend millions of dollars to convey this message: “See these happy people enjoying life with their loved ones? You can have this life, too, if you just take our drug!”  

They don’t go into the details of the drugs ingredients. (No one really cares, as longs at it works, right?) They also don’t dwell on the negative side effects. We see no emotional scenes of suffering, pain, or even discomfort. We are given a brief and quickly spoken voiceover with no fanfare. This is because the drug companies are not selling us a list of ingredients or a list of potential side effects. They are selling us the benefits of the drug: comfort, happiness, health, etc. They are selling us the dream–the idea that we, too, can have the peace and joy we see on the screen if we will take that drug.

2. Sell to women.

Women make 85 percent of consumer purchases and influence another 10 percent. Women generally resonate to scenes of babies, children, families, and emotional experiences. We like personal connections. And we also really appreciate anything that makes our busy lives less complicated. 

Again, your average drug commercial is composed of relationships, families, children, grandchildren, etc. And the underlying message is “If you take our drug, your life will be easier.” Finally, the whole beautiful scene is underscored with music designed to heighten the emotional response.

Are men alienated by this call to women? Doubtful (at least no more alienated than they are by the stated risks of taking the drug). Unless it’s for a product used exclusively by women, selling to women generally makes ads more appealing to men as well.

What About Your Practice?

Do your clients understand they enjoy the companionship of their pet longer because of heartworm prevention? Do they know they don’t have to suffer with bad doggy breath? Do they know the food you sell results in less waste to scoop off the back lawn?

 Your services help create better lives. Make sure your clients know it!

The implications of thinking big are widespread and impressive. Thinking big is a magic door opener that broadens your perspective and  allows you to see new opportunities. Thinking big makes life easier and a lot more fun. It also makes large profits more probable.  - Richard Carlson, Don’t Worry, Make Money

Trust is the highest form of motivation. It brings out the very best in people.

“But it takes times and patience, and it doesn’t preclude the necessity to train and develop people so that their competency can rise to the level of that trust.” – Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People