The Kindle edition of Ryan Murray’s book has arrived with such acclaim because it imparts practical information relating to many facets of starting a new business, such as discussing the importance of developing solid and comprehensive business plans before starting a new business; however, marketing matters occupy center stage. Concerning the importance of developing a solid marketing strategy, Murray notes in the preface of his book, ” Marketing is everything you do to grow your business, from creating competitive advantages to correctly identifying your target market, to knowing which products will sell in which market areas”. By contrast, Murray also notes in the same preface, “Advertising is just a way to let people know about you and what you sell”.  As noted by S. Swinburne in a recently-posted review of Murray’s book on Amazon.com, “The discussion on the difference between marketing and advertising is worth the read alone”.

Aside from sharing valuable information about the differences between marketing and advertising, Murray’s book shares innovative ways to drum-up business for novice entrepreneurs who are forced to operate on tight budgets. According to Murray, sales can be increased by using the most focused and effective marketing methods. For example, for a wholesaler of plumbing parts the most efficient strategy for selling their products would be to focus their marketing attention on people who are the most likely to buy large quantities of plumbing-related items as opposed to just paying for advertisements that are not specifically focused on the people who are most likely to buy their products.

In the preface of his book, Murray provides his readers with a solid example to illustrate the importance of using an effective marketing strategy as opposed to just spending money on advertising. In Murray’s preface example of good marketing practices, one of his past clients saw healthy expansion of sales over the course of a year without ever spending money on social media advertising. The client initially felt they needed to spend on social media advertising simply because others in their market where doing it. But Murray advised his client against spending on social media advertising just because others were doing it. Instead he helped them see the better marketing opportunities that were available because others weren’t doing it.

About Ryan Murray: Ryan Murray received a bachelor’s degree in finance and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah. After finishing his MBA program Murray began working as a regional director for the Utah State University Small Business Development Center where he is responsible for overseeing the entrepreneurial program for the Southeast region of Utah.