Collaborate with Kate
A boutique marketing consultancy helping small-to-midsize businesses, startups and solopreneurs maximize their market impact.
Clarity | Creativity | Insights | Strategy
WELCOME!
Hello there! I'm Kate MacKay O'Brien.
With over 18 years of experience working with brands of all sizes – from Fortune 500 companies to scrappy startups, I bring strategic thinking and creative problem-solving to every partnership.

I love marketing, branding and creative. Hard stop.
Why?
It’s all about the blend of strategy, creativity and data-driven insights. Great marketing is both art and science, and that sweet spot in between is where the magic happens.
And as a natural extrovert, I thrive when collaborating with other passionate professionals to drive results. The best ideas almost always come from putting smart, creative minds together.

After years in Corporate America, I finally said goodbye to the "rat race" to create something more meaningful… a path where I can be an integrated partner and extension of your team, helping you crush your goals without all the traditional agency overhead and red tape.
I deliver big-brand strategy, thoughtful systems and content that scales. Let's collaborate! ✨
ADJECTIVES
Energetic & enthusiastic | Results-driven & goal-oriented | Highly organized & skilled at planning | Curious & committed to life-long learning | Right/left brain balanced
CORE STRENGTHS
▶️ Balancing creative strategy with data-driven insights – equally at home in Canva or Excel.
▶️ Optimizing everything (seriously, everything) through constant learning & iteration.
▶️ Creating authentic connections & working collaboratively to help teams deliver their best.
▶️ Building strategies that turn market insights into measurable growth.
My Approach
Human-Centered
I place you and your customers at the core of every strategy, creating authenticity that sparks interest, connection and growth.
Collaborative
Your business goals become our roadmap as we work together to develop marketing solutions that align with your vision.
Data-Driven
I combine creative thinking with critical analytics to ensure marketing investment drives measurable results.
Services & Expertise
Brand Strategy & Brand Building
Craft a unique and impactful positioning that sets you apart from the competition.
Curate messaging frameworks and develop visual identity systems that captures your value proposition and connects you to your ideal customers.
Creative Strategy for Owned & Paid Marketing
Maximize your impact through targeted campaigns developed with strategic targeting, curated creative and the right messaging that speaks to your ideal customers.
Implement data-driven creative optimizations across channels, with analytics that track ROI and continuously improve campaign performance.
Content Marketing & Campaign Strategy
Tell your story through strategic content that educates and inspires your audience.
Develop comprehensive content strategies that speaks to your target customers at every stage of the buyer journey. Develop content calendars, competitive positioning frameworks, distribution plans and more.
Digital Marketing & Social Media Strategy
Drive growth through digital channel strategies, with a focus on social media (LinkedIn in particular), email marketing and content that connects.
Build engaged communities around your brand with platform-specific strategies, content creation, community management and performance analytics.
Comprehensive marketing solutions tailored to your business goals and growth stage.
Professional Experience
CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
→ Drove Brand Strategy engagement for a $2-billion division of a leading insurance provider. Clarified the divisions positioning, UVP, brand pillars, brand personality and essence to drive strategic differentiation in a "sea of sameness".
→ Developed a scalable, multi-location Social Media Strategy that enables consistent brand storytelling, empowers localized content execution, and drives engagement through proactive, community-focused tactics.
→ Drove +60% growth in LinkedIn audience through strategic content realignment and targeted engagement tactics
→ 2X audience engagement through comprehensive Paid Media ptimization and creative refresh across paid channels (Meta, Google & LinkedIn)
→ Captured 40% subscription rate in first month of LinkedIn newsletter launch by developing and implementing comprehensive Email Marketing Strategy, exceeding email benchmarks by 10 % pts
STARTUP EXPERIENCE
Full brand refresh and multi-channel campaign supporting tech product launch:
→ 2x Sales YoY | +55% Web Traffic | 35% YouTube CTR | +4X growth in branded search YoY
→ Won national awards for Best Online Advertising & Social Media Excellence (2021)
ENTERPRISE EXPERIENCE
→ Brand Strategy, Brand Repositioning & Brand Building
→ Content Strategy & Content Marketing
→ Social Media Strategy
→ Digital Marketing Strategy Development & Implementation
→ Paid Media Strategy & Optimization (Meta, Google, LinkedIn & YouTube)
→ Analytics Leadership (site, email, social & video)
Companies included:
Hasbro, Bank of America/Merrill Edge, The Hartford, Siren Marine/Yamaha Marine, Brunswick Corp/Freedom Boat Club
What People Say About Me: Testimonials
Some people are creative, others are system-thinkers. Kate is that rare individual who combines both for impact. She doesn't just design forward-thinking strategies; she hands you the blueprint and tools to bring them to life.
– Shelby, Founder & Principal, Kirby Consulting & former Marketing VP, Brunswick Corp, Marketing Consulting Partner
As our Fractional Director of Marketing, Kate brought structure, leadership, and creative execution that elevated every part of our marketing operation. She shaped our digital strategy, email campaigns, and PR planning with sharp thinking and attention to detail — helping us gain visibility, traction, and trust.
Her brand and marketing guidelines brought clarity and made it easy to scale with confidence. She’s a natural collaborator and someone I’d work with again in a heartbeat.
– Maryann, Co-Founder, AI-based Marine Tech Company, Former Client
Kate has great big-picture vision with hands-on execution. She is a leader in strategic thinking, but is also able to get into the weeds and really understand the details. Additionally, she has a keen eye for creative and how it marries to strategy.
– Kelly, Brand Strategist , Brand Agency Partner
Kate knows the right questions to ask and positions herself well to effectively reach the target audience, even when she may not be a SME on the product or industry going into a project. Her ability to “learn the language” is an invaluable asset.
– Sam, Co-Founder & Principal, Bunker Hill Media , Video Agency Partner
Kate excels in end-to-end campaign management and digital channel strategy. Her ability to take a concept from ideation all the way through to execution is something I’ve always admired. She has a unique talent for seeing the bigger picture while ensuring every detail is accounted for… no matter how small or large the campaign is.
– Catie, Content & Social Media Manager, Marketing Partner
Ready to level up your marketing?
Let's Collaborate!
I'd love to learn more
✉️ kate@collaborate-with-kate.com | LinkedIn: @katiemackay
www.collaborate-with-kate.com | Newport, Rhode Island