Business Buzz: Learning from industry leaders

PHUKET: While recently I talked about focusing on your customer, not your competitor, it is also a very good idea to see what the leaders in your industry are doing and get creative ideas and inspiration from the best.

If you are a small to medium enterprise, then there is a very high chance that you do not have a marketing department or specialized social media resource to do your marketing for you.

But, we now have so much information at our fingertips, it would be crazy not to utilize it.

Let’s look at an example. If you are a small restaurant, you probably have a limited marketing budget. But given the abundance of information, you can easily find a comparable restaurant or chain in the US or elsewhere that has a large budget, dedicated marketing team and a huge online presence.

Spending some time to research and find such a partner can be invaluable. Once you have identified one, you can opt in to their social media accounts and see everything that they do with their marketing.

You can then modify their ideas to match your needs.

Let me be clear here: I am not saying plagiarize their advertising; I am saying see what they do and what works for them, and then modify it for your local circumstances and market.

There are some great industry leaders; you just need to find the relevant ones.

Simon Wetherell is a social media expert and lawyer. He trains businesses and individuals on how to profit from the social media industry. For more information: Visit or call 095-085 3355.