Book excerpt: Written from the perspective of the healthcare marketing professional, Health Care Marketing: Tools and Techniques presents a series of 39 essential marketing tools and demonstrates their application in the health care environment.Ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in health care marketing or health care strategy, the tools cover a broad spectrum of topics including product development and portfolio analysis; branding and identity management; target marketing; consumer behavior and product promotions; environmental analysis and competitive assessment; marketing management; and marketing strategy and planning.Each chapter focuses on a specific marketing tool and can be read as stand-alone presentation of the topic. Step-by-step guidelines take the reader through techniques that range from time-tested marketing classics to new models that will undoubtedly become classics in time.