Social Media Marketing


Karen Licker
Optimized Marketing Team

Boston
Massachusetts

Karen is a high energy bank adviser with extensive bank marketing, sales and service experience at senior levels in multiple organizations. She has combined her 20 years’ in retail banking with an enthusiasm for easy, efficient marketing to become one of the few financial services executives with social media expertise. As the Social Media Expert for Continuity Control’s online community and as an Advisory Board Member for Virtual Banking Systems, Karen has the opportunity to stay current with real-time questions, issues, challenges and is shaping the future of online social media marketing for community and national banks. In her 3 years leading bankerstuff.com, Karen saw a recurring need among bankers who requested assistance nailing down customized online strategies. She founded SBS in 2010 to deliver to bankers the online tools and tactics they thirsted for in the areas of sales, service, marketing and social media. She has great creative energy and the ability to balance innovation with execution. Prior to SBS, Karen co-founded JMB Consulting, a financial services advisory firm focused on retail bank strategic planning, branch efficiency programs and channel marketing strategies. As online communities and social media became mainstream, Karen founded Bankerstuff.com in 2007 to provide the industry with a “one-stop shopping” online resource for news, trends and education.

Work Sample

  • 1 year, CEO-Founder of Selling Banking Services, LLC, consulting and information in social media for financial services providers
  • 3 years as co-Founder of Bankerstuff, LLC, online banking information portal
  • 7 years consulting to retail bankers on branch sales and service performance
  • 10 years as in branch management and retail bank sales, marketing and business development
  • Developed and implemented a high-profile, innovative social media marketing program for a mid-sized commercial bank in California. The role was 50/50 execution vs. strategy in collaborating with various internal groups including PR, customer service, sales and compliance.
  • Serve as an independent contractor for a global information and education company, facilitate customer satisfaction improvement programs and write marketing case studies for various super regional banks in the US.
  • Pioneered sales and service best practices for $3B California community bank to increase branch efficiency and per FTE sales productivity, along with deposit operations improvements and new service level agreements. Reduced processing errors by 25% while increasing sales per FTE from 2 to 3.5.
  • Performed regional assessment and research for large New England bank on recruiting, hiring, training and retaining a flexible and dynamic part time workforce. Recommendations covered revisions to benefits structure, compensation, training agenda, candidate pools, and internal policies and procedures resulting in a decrease in attrition by 8% in 6 months.
  • Architected bank-wide incentive pay-for-performance program along with sales effectiveness training for an upscale New England community bank. Increased cross-sell ratio of internet banking to 32% of checking account customers.
  • Increased individual sales staff productivity and time spent on customer cross-selling for a recently merged 45-branch bank through automation of paper-based processes, forms and compliance reporting requirements.

Lead Capabilities

  • Innovative social media and online marketing programs including strategy and compliance policy development
  • Evolve and amplify existing social media programs on current and customized social platforms including website integration
  • Measurable & sustainable sales & service cultures
  • Product development, branding and planning• Marketing writing and editing
  • Workforce management planning
  • Service quality measurement tools
  • Sales and service incentive and training programs