Board Member Spotlight – meet Kaelyn Banks, AMADC’s Membership Chair.

 

Board Member Spotlight: Kaelyn Banks

Kaelyn Banks
AMADC Membership Chair
Marketing Consultant

 

A desire to understand people

Kaelyn always knew that she wanted to have a career that involved understanding people and their behavior. In college she started off as a major in Psychology but, after reconsidering the long road towards a PhD, she switched to a focus in Marketing to still be able to study people, learn their habits and how they function.

Developing her skillset over time

Kaelyn’s first job was with a larger tech company and she was very specialized in strategic events. “They had a team for everything. There was a social media team, an email marketing team, an analytics team – there was someone for everything.” This silo-type role was good experience but ultimately led to her next job that allowed her the opportunity to explore marketing from a top-down perspective. She was able to ask critical questions like “What are the actual business goals? What are the sales and revenue goals? How do I apply marketing to help achieve those goals?”. Now, with Kaelyn having her own consulting business, this big picture thinking has proven invaluable as she works with clients on projects that range from strategic events and digital marketing to higher level marketing strategy and brand management.

Marketing needs to be consistent, and realistic

Social media is an ever-present part of a marketing plan and while this can be a fun part of the job, Kaelyn has come across organizations with an unrealistic view of social media and what it can accomplish. “Many people that aren’t marketers have a skewed perception of what marketing is and how that applies to social media. They think, ‘Okay, we’ll pay you x amount of dollars, you’ll post five posts, and then we’ll blow up and go viral.” On the contrary, social media needs be consistent over time and on all platforms, as well as having a different approach for each platform individually. And when considering social media, to be successful with a campaign, the full breadth of digital marketing tools should be enlisted, whether it’s Google Ads, SEO, or email marketing.

Don’t fall down the marketing research rabbit hole

When offering advice to marketers based on her own experiences, Kaelyn notes that much of the field can be very research based. “Sometimes I would fall down a rabbit hole and I would research for hours and hours on end, almost shooting myself in the foot. I needed to find that sweet spot, that balance, between absorbing as much information as I could and then being able to apply the information.” She cautions marketers to not get stuck in this analysis paralysis and know when to pivot away from the research portion of a project.

Getting involved with AMADC

With her mother in the field of journalism and PR, Kaelyn was quick to find out about AMADC through this relationship. She wanted to connect with like-minded marketers, especially in the tech industry, who understood where she was coming from. She joined in 2019 as a member and quickly became active as a volunteer on two separate committees (Programming and Membership). After some good experience with AMADC, there was an opportunity to lead the membership committee, as Andrea was moving on to President, and she decided to take on this role in the beginning of 2022. 

A vision for the AMADC Membership Committee

The biggest challenge Kaelyn has with her new role within AMADC is membership retention and engagement. Members need to know what is going on, have a way to connect with AMADC and be able to identify volunteer positions when they first join. We want to help create clear channels of communication and access to information, in addition to providing opportunities for them to engage online and at in-person events. Connected to this effort, there is continued development with membership cohorts. These membership cohorts will be structured as small groups with a cohort lead so members can get to know each other in a small, more intimate setting to make connections. 

Excitement outside of work

Kaelyn is a new dog mom (congrats!) to a Cavapoo named Royce and has recently been busy with puppy training and snuggles. She also stays active with yoga and volunteering with organizations such as Tigerlily Foundation and Calvary Women’s Services.

Want to get involved with AMADC? Become a member and fill out the volunteer application here.