ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at each stage in turn and develop an understanding of the basics of the marketing process. Marketing is relevant to all sectors of healthcare. In the healthcare sector, word of mouth was the traditional method of promotion. The interaction of healthcare providers with their clients has an impact on consumer satisfaction, loyalty and referrals. OrthoBase is a new healthcare group that has been set up as a private orthopaedic and trauma hospital. There are legislative and regulatory considerations when establishing a private healthcare service. OrthoBase offers high-quality care at a lower cost compared with other private healthcare providers. P. Kotler described the marketing process as comprising of four stages: Analysis of marketing opportunities, selecting target markets, developing the marketing mix and managing the marketing effort. Once the market segments have been identified an analysis of each is performed to identify the most attractive and hence determine which segments to enter.
