Despite the growing importance of marketing for health professionals, there is no concise how-to guide available on the topic for use by physician practices, hospitals and other healthcare organizations. This book serves as a convenient reference for health professionals who want to understand the marketing process, develop marketing initiatives or interface with marketing professionals. Marketing theory and the history of marketing in healthcare are minimized in an attempt to provide a practical guide for everyday use. The focus is on how to do marketing, with the reader introduced to supporting aspects such as market research, marketing planning, and evaluation. Numerous templates, checklists, and sample survey questionnaires are included. The author also discusses marketing techniques for social marketing.

Richard K. Thomas is Vice President of the Health Management Associates, Memphis, TN. He is also Associate Professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Thomas has authored a recent academic treatment of marketing and healthcare: Marketing Health Services (2004, Health Administration Press). He is also author of Health Communication and several other books on health administration published by Springer.

For today's health care professional, clinical expertise is not enoughone has to know the market. Even when a facility has its own marketing department, practitioners are regularly called on for their input. Health Services Marketing: A Practitioner's Guide clearly and succinctly explains the range of marketing activities and techniques, from promotions to pricing, so any health professional can learn to navigate this bewildering but increasingly important aspect of healthcare. Richard Thomas' step-by-step guide for developing a marketing plan and carrying out a successful campaign offers a hands-on approach to proven methods for staying a step ahead of the healthcare marketing game:

• The health industry as seen from the marketing perspective.
• Healthcare products, and the consumers who need them.
• What marketing can (and can't) do for a medical practice.
• Demographics and beyond: how social marketing works.
• Where your marketing dollar goes: staying on budget.
• Market positioning: knowing the competition, building the strategy.
• Evaluating a marketing plan's effectiveness.
• Plus dozens of forms, checklists, and questionnaires to simplify the process.

Useful to practitioners and administrators alike, and equally suited to the for-profit as to the non-profit organization, Health Services Marketing gives the reader valuable tools to reach out to consumers and build lasting relationships.