As little as tan years ago, a discussion of hospital marketing would have been nearly impossible. Prior to the 1970s, only the most casual sort of marketing was being done in the health care field; in the past decade, however, several forces have combined to make hospitals recognize that their success, and even their survival, may depend on effective marketing. Hospitals have started to investigate and to use many of the same marketing principles long used successfully by business and industry.The following three-part analysis seeks to provide an understanding of hospital marketing as it exists today and to use a case study to demonstrate how a hospital can formulate a marketing plan aimed at a particular market segment. Part one gives an overview of hospital marketing and explores principles a hospital can use in implementing a marketing program. The second part presents research data and analysis for the case study, focusing on consumer satisfactiondissatisfaction with the quality of hospital care. The third part utilizes information presented in the previous sections to develop a marketing plan aimed at consumers dissatified with the quality of prior hospital care.