Ramon Soto of Northwell Health On The Top 5 New Marketing Trends Leaders Need To Know

An Interview With Rachel Kline

Resetting the balance: Everything is out of equilibrium in this post-COVID world. We have to expect change and be ready for that change, be ready to help shape, react and leverage that change.

Marketing trends are always changing, and it’s so important to stay relevant. What are the latest trends? How does one stay abreast of the new trends? Is it good to be an early adopter or is it best to see which trends withstand the test of time? To address these questions, in this interview series, we are talking to experienced CMOs who can share their “Top 5 New Marketing Trends That Leaders Need To Know About.” As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ramon Soto.

Ramon Soto is the senior vice president, chief marketing and communications officer for Northwell Health, New York’s largest health system. Mr. Soto is responsible for the development and execution of Northwell’s brand strategy, as well as for all aspects of marketing and communications, including public relations, digital engagement, strategic marketing, clinical marketing and customer acquisition. Mr. Soto, was recently elected to the Ad Council’s Board of Directors, and he leads Northwell’s mission-driven communication efforts tackling some of the most pressing issues, like gun violence prevention, women’s health, and health equity.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I’ve always appreciated everything marketing, communication, and the power stories have to convey a message. What brought me to the healthcare industry was when my professional and personal life intersected. I had a health event that helped ground me and made me realize firsthand how health care delivery in this country burdens the consumer. There is a burden on the patient to navigate this complicated health care mystery, and I know there is a better way to demystify the process of getting care. I’m a marketer’s marketer; my first job on Madison Avenue helped me build that understanding of how to tell a story and effectively engage with consumers. That foundation equipped me with the skill set to challenge how we partner, navigate, and communicate with consumers.

It has been said that our mistakes can sometimes be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

My first marketing mistake was my first multimillion-dollar mistake! I approved a piece of creative that would be printed and used as a mailing insert. But what I approved didn’t fit in the mail. It was an incredible lesson in humility and the importance of decision-making, consequences and the importance of being partner-oriented. It could have been a career-limiting moment, but I got through it and, in the end, learned the importance of slowing down, thinking through a problem, and being attentive to detail.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

The person that helped me break through was my first mentor; he took a gamble on me and hired me for a new role. We were in a particularly tough meeting with a business leader at GE who challenged us on a key business opportunity we were presenting. Instead of losing my cool, I answered that business leader’s questions uniquely, thoughtfully, and strategically. My approach helped us get to the heart of the questions and my mentor was struck by my approach. He saw something in me, sponsored my MBA and supported my promotion to vice president at a young age. That was scary, to be so young and at that title. You feel as if you are an impostor. But, like my father always taught me, you need to be comfortable stretching yourself and putting yourself in uncomfortable positions to grow personally and professionally.

Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?

There were two tipping points in my career. The first was when I realized that I was a lifelong learner. In this business, going through the motions, day-in-and-day-out, and working for big companies or big accounts is one thing. But can you talk and speak the business language effectively with peers? That’s when things click. I achieved this by returning to school, getting my MBA, attending conferences, and constantly speaking and listening to my peers.

The second tipping point is when I realized that a person’s biggest, most powerful asset is their opinion. Everyone has one, and people should not be afraid to offer theirs. Don’t hide in the shadows or offer wish-washy points of view. Your opinion helps advance the discussion and builds your confidence and maturity. If you are wrong, learn from it. Listen to others, take feedback, and reflect. Develop your skillset equal parts change agent and functional expert to help take your business to a better pace.

What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

In New York, consumers have great healthcare choices. What makes an organization stand out? At Northwell Health, we are unique; we have a youthful nature not bound by convention. That mindset gives us the freedom of possibility. We are an optimistic company that does not think about challenges; but opportunities. This freedom allows us to explore areas other businesses or healthcare organizations do not. Take, for example, our efforts around gun violence prevention.

We are the country’s first healthcare organization to discuss gun violence as a public health crisis. Other systems told us the topic was “too controversial,” a “slippery slope,” and “third rail.” We didn’t shy away from the conversation. We learned in. We created a Center for Gun Violence Prevention, received funding from the National Institutes of Health for research, and rallied 1,000+ health systems, hospitals, and other healthcare CEOs to join us and talk about this issue nationally.

We need to focus on social health just like we do physical health. While we don’t know all the answers, we are trying to build relationships in our communities. We need to bend the curve that leads to poor health and raise health on many other issues, like women’s health and health equity. If anyone can do it, Northwell can.

Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?

We are working on a docudrama with a major streaming platform that will help us ring the alarm bells bout the growing mental health crisis facing society. America needs to wrap its arms around mental health to develop new solutions. It’s an important piece of work that will help show consumers what happens behind the glass, what they don’t see. It shows what happens to an individual going through a crisis, what recovery looks like, and the challenges health systems face. It also shows the path to better mental health.

Fantastic. Let’s now shift to the main part of our interview about Marketing Trends. As a CMO, you’re at the forefront of the marketing space and leading diverse teams. What resources or tools do you use to stay abreast of the ever-changing landscape?

Representing a leading healthcare provider involves listening, learning and sharing. We do everything at Northwell Health as an open book, and I do my best to share and speak to my peers.

I listen to what other great marketers do in different industries and apply those principles to healthcare. Healthcare has a long way to go in marketing, and we shouldn’t be afraid to experiment with how we communicate, whether in content, mode of communication, or message.

I am a lifelong learner who returns to school regularly and tries to stay ahead of this business and culture. And regarding the yearning for learning, I expect it from my team. I want them to become lifelong learners, get stimulus from the outside world and bring it back to the organization to help shape what we do and create that culture of originality.

In your experience, is it possible to forecast upcoming trends? How does this process work? Please share a story.

It’s hard to dissect what is happening in society and tease out fads from trends. But I think there are macro trends — and there are dozens — to stay on top of. For example, global climate, intolerance of debate and political perspective, the post-pandemic consumers and the new value placed on health care.

It’s a continuous listening process that we as marketers have to do — what trends will affect business, which trends will go away as quickly as they came and what are the issues that are not going to go away.

For example, we regularly speak with consumers about what issues are on their minds, non-health care related. Gun violence became the number three issue that kept people up at night. We understood the gravity of that data, leaned in and continue to lead in positioning gun violence as a public health crisis. We as a company have a responsibility to do social good, and in the long run, it pays off for society and the business.

In marketing, would you say it’s better to be an early adopter of trends or wait to see if they stick before allocating resources? What are the pros and cons?

It’s important to both be an early adopter of trends and also know when to wait it out. That’s where strategy and good marketing come into play.

Every year we make strategic bets, big and small, on the future. Some pay off, some of them don’t. We made an early bet around digital health, focusing on shortening the time to get a consumer to seek care. While our intentions are there, some of our ideas are not doable. But we must keep pushing forward; it may not be this year or next, but you can’t ignore the most important issues or trends.

What are some of the past trends that you embraced? What results did you see?

When I first started at Northwell, I was looking at how we can rebrand ourselves and differentiate ourselves. We studied how other industries engaged with consumers from a functional standpoint; entertainment, financial services, retail, etc. It opened up a host of opportunities to interact with consumers.

Most recently, we looked at the entertainment industry to experiment with content and consumer engagement. That outside-in approach led to several initiatives along with five docudramas with Hulu, National Geographic, Netflix and NBC producing four Emmys, three Academy Award nominations and billions of impressions. We know Entertainment engagement works. We continue to use entertainment as an extension of the brand in the NY market while creating a national and international brand in the process.

Can you share a time when a strategy didn’t deliver the results you expected and what you learned from the experience?

One early project involved our pediatric hospital. It did not have the market awareness it should have, and we wanted to turn Cohen Children’s Medical Center into a philanthropic brand (think St. Jude). We were asking our consumers to open their checkbooks and donate while we were beginning to brand build — this was during the same time as our health system’s overall rebranding to Northwell Health. It was a failure. We simply could not compete with an organization like St. Jude that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on philanthropic solicitations. But that failure led to an opportunity. We took a step back, found our lane and came up with a new strategy and that new approach helped propel Cohen Children’s Medical Center from the number four children’s pediatric brand in the NY market to number one.

What factors should leaders consider before jumping on a trend? Can you please explain what you mean?

There are some trends that I worry about, intolerance of the other side. Compromise being abandoned. The loudest voices in the room seem to be winning, polarizing and destroying healthy debate. That worries me.

I think it is essential to reflect on what’s trending and what — if any — is your brand’s role. It’s a balancing act of being a part of the conversation while creating value for your organization and for society. You can easily get caught up in a conversation that does not benefit your brand or community. You need to choose when to be brave, perhaps say something that is going against that loud voice and also decide when you need to be more prudent.

For example, we jumped in head first to help tackle gun violence prevention. Society needs this right now. This isn’t a trend. This is a crisis and it won’t change unless many purpose-driven choices and thoughtful acts — by individuals and companies — bend the curve. Healthcare has not occupied that lane before. We need to be brave and do what’s right for society and we are proud to lead the charge.

Here is the main question of our interview. We’d love for you to share your expert insight. What are the top five marketing trends leaders should know about in 2023? Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Resetting the balance: Everything is out of equilibrium in this post-COVID world. We have to expect change and be ready for that change, be ready to help shape, react and leverage that change.

2. Being nimble: Flexibility in decision-making, organization structure and being more aware and thoughtful of the marketplace and what consumers are thinking is paramount. Equilibrium will be a bumpy road to reset, but your brand needs to be nimble through these volatile times.

3. External forces: As marketers, we need to be aware, accept and work with the outside forces affecting society and our consumers. We must consider consumer sentiment, societal behavior, economics, business, and politics. We can’t control these forces, but we can be prepared to understand them.

4. Healthy conversations: We have lost our way in having thoughtful, fruitful discussions and civil discourse. This leads to intolerance. Most recently, in the marketing world, the court of public opinion continues to hammer companies like Disney, Budweiser and others. Making strategic steps forward is needed instead of just blundering along in a time of crisis or responding with a knee-jerk reaction. Brands are getting in trouble and need to better navigate with thoughtfulness to not add to the intolerance.

5. React and act with purpose: Ok, so you stepped on a landmine, now what? How do you get out of it? Do you double down on what you know or be brave? Stick to your intuition, stick to your strategy and be proud of the brand you represent.

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The pandemic helped shine a light on what is most important; our health — it fuels our family, loves, life, and passions. It’s what drives us. As a marketer, you need to understand what fuels a person; what fuels you? How do we reengage with the consumers? Life is a gift; it is a fragile gift that needs to be cared for and nurtured. There is a window of opportunity to help society and create a culture that can benefit everyone. Turning this into a movement is an open question, but the opportunity to take the journey differently awaits us all.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Check out Northwell Health’s newsroom, which has the most up to date information on our programs and initiatives.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational.