Mike Check Marketing Consulting (MCMC)

Brand strategy and execution. 2000% effort.*

Every brand, solopreneur, and startup has a unique story to tell. But it’s really hard to accurately share the vision in your head with the rest of the world.

That’s where I come in. I’m Mike! An award-winning Creative Director and Writer who loves helping cool teams do cool things.

At MCMC, I’ll help you tell your story with content marketing, brand strategy, ideation, and execution. Because I believe marketing problems require creative solutions.

Want to see what I’m all about? Set up a FREE intro call, and we can go from there.

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What is Marketing Consulting?
Is this some sort of fancy scam?

First off: “Fancy Scam” is a great name for a band. But I get where you’re coming from.

Consulting isn’t the right choice every time. If you do it too early in your process, you can wind up getting a lot of advice that you can’t do anything with at that point in time. If you do it too late, you’ll be paying someone to tell you stuff that you and your team already know.

My approach to Consulting is about solving the two most common struggles that brands face: Planning and Personality. ⬇️

  • Is about helping you get off the ground, make a plan, and roll it out. Whether you’re launching a new product or at Phase 0 of a startup, it can be the most intimidating thing in the world to figure out your marketing and brand strategy.

    What I offer you here is a road map, an outside perspective, and a helping hand.

  • Everyone has an opinion when it comes to marketing. They’ll sell you courses, create lists of SEO best practices to follow, and build generative AI tools to help you write your content.

    And at the end of all that, you’ll have an algorithmically-perfect brand—just like everyone else.

    We’re often the worst at identifying the things that make us unique, exciting, and interesting. (Or so my therapist tells me.) Standing out from the crowd is hard enough—and nowadays the crowd is like, 50% robots. But I am very good at bringing fresh eyes and energy to find your unique angle, and building a story around that.

    What I offer you here is a new brand voice, tone, and foundation to build upon.

Could you TL;DR that for me?

I got you.

My approach to Marketing Consulting is about helping your brand have a clear and distinct PERSONALITY, and supporting it through a realistic-yet-flexible marketing PLAN covering everything from content strategy to writing.

Mike Check Services

All of these packages are built to provide you and your team with the most insight and support possible. Don’t see something that fits your needs? Send me an email. I love a new challenge!

Core Packages

Brand Consultation

Do you need a fresh set of eyes or a second opinion? Let’s talk it out. I’ll get to know you and your team, and use my journalistic research skills to create a brand report document that you can use to immediately focus and strengthen your messaging and marketing content.

    • Conduct exploratory calls with key stakeholders (maximum 3).

    • Audit your brand’s relevant content channels.

    • Create your final deliverable: A Mike Checklist report PDF sent to you and your team and presented in a call afterwards where we can chat about questions, concerns, and next steps! It includes:

      • My Brisk Breakdown of the current situation based on my chats with your team.

      • Tone Tuning: Any places where your brand’s voice or tone isn’t matching your intended goals or outcomes.

      • What’s Working: I’ll highlight 3-5 things that shouldn’t be changed or messed with, because that’s just as important as knowing what to improve!

      • Immediate Opportunities: I’ll spotlight and explain 3-5 places where I think your approach could be improved, with immediate recommendations and tips.

      • Strategy Minimap: I’ll give you a top-level strategy roadmap that outlines the next steps I would recommend pursuing to achieve your goals in the next 3-6 months.

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Brand Guidelines

Does your brand need an updated voice, tone, and style? Are you building your brand from scratch, and aren’t entirely sure what all of that means? This is the package for you!

I’ll conduct thorough (but fun) interviews with you and your key stakeholders to understand and synthesize your view of your brand’s current and ideal identity. Then I’ll work with you to write, edit, and finalize a set of Brand Guidelines that your team can use as a source of truth for all your marketing strategy.

    • Conduct exploratory calls with key stakeholders (maximum 6).

      • Assess all your existing brand materials and research other relevant examples in your industry.

      • Create your final deliverable: Brand Guidelines that serve as a source of truth for you and your team going forward. It includes:

        • Your Brand Story, summarizing the narrative you tell yourselves (internal messaging) and the narrative you tell your audience (external messaging).

        • Your Brand Identity, clearly outlining who you are as a brand.

        • Your Brand ICP (Ideal Customer Profile): A data-backed overview of who your brand is talking to, and how to connect with them in the most effective way.

        • Brand Voice: An overview of what your brand says (and doesn’t say) to your audience. (Are you informative or entertaining? Speaking to newbies or experts?)

        • Brand Tone:An easy-to-navigate breakdown of how your brand uses its Voice on different channels (Technical language or conversational? Memes or no memes?)

      Your Core Messaging: A shortlist of words, phrases, and concepts that should be communicated consistently across all your channels.

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Brand Strategy + Content Roadmap

If you feel comfortable with your brand’s identity and messaging, the next step is turning those fundamentals into a workable strategy that you can plan around and execute from. Want to feel confident in your team’s next 12 months of content marketing? You’re in the right place!

This is the most comprehensive package you’ll find at MCMC, because I’ll be with you every step of the way, helping you and your team take inventory of your brand messaging, and use that to ideate and plan flexible content roadmaps for you to follow.

    • Kick things off with everything included in the Brand Consultation Package, so we have a baseline of information and a to-do list to build from.

    • Building off the Mike Checklist, I’ll work with you to incorporate any critical changes or updates that I identify during my brand audit.

    • I’ll create a report of your brand’s Channel Spotlights and Profiles, where I break down the strengths/opportunities of your brand’s marketing channels, and make constructive recommendations on what to focus on going forward in terms of content and frequency. We’ll work together to choose your Core Channels going forward!

    • Create a flexible Content Roadmap for the next 6-12 months, including:

      • A list of Timely Topics that I’ve identified as important to you and your brand, allowing you to plan ahead of time-sensitive events in the coming year. (Examples: A yearly conference that you want to have an eBook ready for, or a National Day of recognition that’s relevant to your product or industry.)

      • Ideation around the core Content Themes that all of your marketing materials will incorporate, helping your brand quickly build consistency and trust with your audience.

      • A Channel Strategy for each marketing channel you have highlighted as a priority you want to commit to in the coming year. This includes the frequency and scope of each deliverable type. (Examples: Blog, LinkedIn, Email Newsletters, Gated Content, etc.)

      • Ideation and execution for a Benchmark Example of each deliverable type, where I’ll pitch exciting and tailored creative ideas for written content on your Core Channels (2 max, depending on length), each of which sets the tone for that channel going forward, and then write and edit them until you’re happy with the final result.

      • Options to Upscale or Downscale your Roadmap, allowing your brand to have flexible options to expand and refocus your content marketing strategy. Every Core Channel will have both a minimum and an ideal schedule for publishing content, and I’ll also provide options for incorporating Future Channels into the roadmap, in case you have the time and resources to do so ahead of schedule.

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Writing + Add-on Packages

Writing (Almost) Anything

You’ve got the brand and the plan; you need someone you can trust to bring it to life. That’s me. I’ll sit down with your creative team to ensure I understand your voice and tone, and then I’ll work from your Brief to tell your brand’s story.

If you realize you’d like to add my writing services to any of the above packages, I’m happy to find a solution for you at a reduced version of my per-word rate!

I can write across any and all of the following categories, from B2B to B2C and beyond:

  • Long-form content marketing

    • eBooks, ghostwriting, thought leadership profiles

  • Shorter-form content marketing

    • blog posts, articles

  • Web Copywriting

    • landing pages, email marketing, newsletters

  • Advertising Copy

    • video ads, LinkedIn posts, traditional ad copy

  • Audio/Video Scripts

    • podcasts, YouTube videos

Need something not on that list? Send me an email, and I’ll find the right solution for you!

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Ideation Station

I’ve always got a bright idea or two stored away, and I’d love to share them with you and your team. Whether you want some fresh insight and energy for your team’s existing GTM strategy, or you need a new crop of content marketing pitches for an upcoming campaign, I’m a walking, talking brainstorm.

Ideation is an add-on for my existing packages, allowing me to help in the following ways:

  • Ideation sessions with you and your creative stakeholders, where I bring my experience and outside perspective to help energize and spotlight your team’s ideas and pitches for content marketing.

  • Content ideation + execution combos, where I not only help think up an exciting approach to a story you want to tell (blog series, eBook, etc.) but then I write it for you afterwards, too!

This is included in the Brand Strategy + Content Roadmap Package!

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Selected Clients

As a journalist, content marketer, copywriter, brand strategist, and creative director, I’ve had the privilege to work with a lot of brands across every possible industry. Brands like:

But don’t take my word for it!

  • Mike’s natural and spot-on sense of humour powers his creative talent, making him a creative genius! During his time at FreshBooks, he came on to lead the Content and Brand team immediately, making the team feel secure and supported, and he always ensured he had their back. We underwent a much-needed successful Brand pivot, which was led by Mike right from the pitch to the execution. Mike is super passionate and goes above and beyond in everything he does. He will be an asset to any company or team he works with!

    Chitra Unnikrishnan, Head of Marketing

  • Mike’s superpower, and what makes him different from anyone I’ve ever worked with, is his ability to hear and synthesize ideas, and to turn those ideas into actionable content plans. Many of my favourite moments working with Mike involved collaborating on sales calls, watching him get a prospect excited about a new idea they didn’t know they had; or watching him lead a kickoff call and repeat back to the client the exact thing they’ve always wanted, which they didn’t know how to articulate until they started speaking with Mike five minutes earlier.

    Hal Walling, General Manager

  • Mike's exceptional intelligence, creativity, and communication skills were evident throughout our work together. When my team encountered challenges with ideas and execution, Mike skillfully guided us forward, making a significant impact. His unparalleled ability to align and motivate diverse teams, both internally and externally, fosters a culture of collaboration that drives success. Additionally, his empathetic approach and thoughtful feedback have been instrumental in achieving positive outcomes.

    Laura Colagrande, GTM Strategist

  • Mike's a truly special person to work with—a brilliant writer and editor, an incredibly quick problem solver, and an experienced storyteller and creative mind. In his role as Creative Director, Mike continued to deliver amazing work to our clients, to coach our writers, and to help us become one of the most respected companies in our industry. He also took on new responsibilities and helped define our company values, business strategy, and brand. I highly recommend working with him.

    Michael Thomas, Founder + CEO