Book excerpt: For today’s health care professional, clinical expertise is not enough—one 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.