The Belonging Studio
The Belonging Studio

By invitation

A studio that builds brands people feel they belong to

We write the newsletters and make the short video for a small number of businesses, so their customers feel part of something rather than marketed at. You never write a word. You talk, and you approve.

  • You are not short of material

    You are short of time, and the good stuff evaporates. A parent says something that would make a brilliant newsletter, and by Thursday it is gone.

  • We learn the business, once

    Ninety minutes at the start, written down properly. What you believe, who your people are, how you actually talk. Everything we make afterwards is measured against it.

  • Three jobs, two places

    The thinking, the making and the putting out, in the inbox and in the feed. You hand over as little or as much of it as you like.

  • Nothing goes out until you say yes

    A person reads and edits everything before it reaches you, and you have the last word before it reaches anybody else.

Your invitation

Enter your code

We work with a small number of businesses at a time, so the rest of this page, including every price, sits behind a code. If you were sent one, it goes here.


No code? Tell us about the business and we will say honestly whether this would work for you. [email protected]

Brands people feel they belong to.

A writing and video studio · done for you

Newsletters and short video that make your customers feel part of it

You are not short of material. You are short of time, and the good stuff evaporates by Thursday. We learn the business once, then do the thinking, the making and the putting out.

See how it works

Nothing reaches your customers until you have said yes to it.

Sound familiar

You know you should be showing up more. It just never happens.

The newsletter you keep meaning to start. The videos you know would work. The proper run-up you never quite build when something big is on.

Meanwhile your people drift. Not because they stopped liking you, but because they stopped hearing from you.

That is the bit we take off you. All of it.

How little you do

Your whole job, ten seconds at a time

If we are writing your newsletter, you get a private line straight into the studio. Something good happens, you fire one line into it, or talk and let your phone type it. If we are making your videos, you do not even do that. Your only job is to press record.

The Belonging Studio
you and us, nobody else
Monday

Wee Olivia read a whole page out loud today. Her mum actually cried

Voice note 0:14

Wednesday

Summer camp dates confirmed, 14th to 25th July

Friday

Dad said he had never seen his son sit still for 40 minutes before

What comes back

1

We learn the business

Once, properly, at the start. Written down and measured against forever after.

2

You send a note, or press record

Ten seconds either way. That is the whole job on your side.

3

You approve, it goes out

Or you tell us what to change, and we change it.

  • A letter that sounds like you wrote it on a good day, ready to send
  • Videos scripted, filmed if you like, edited, captioned, scheduled
  • A plain-English readback each month, so you know what actually happened

What we do

Three jobs. Two places. You pick.

No package to decode and no tier to graduate from. There are three jobs that go into keeping your people close, and two places your people actually are.

The thinking
The making
Putting it out
In the inbox

Newsletters

A letter from a friend, built from the notes you drop in

Nothing to make. A written letter is already finished.

The Rhythm

We load it and send it for you

In the feed

The Reel

Short video scripts, hooks and a simple shot plan

The Production

Your footage cut, captioned and finished

The Rhythm

Scheduled and published on a steady beat

We always do the thinking

We do not take a hard drive of footage and cut it blind. If we did not decide what a video says, we cannot promise it does anything for your business, and we cannot promise it sounds like you. People do not feel part of something that changes shape every week.

It is also the practical reason the making costs what it does. Because we planned it, the edit is half done before it starts.

The boxes, one by one

Start with one. Add whenever it earns it.

Every box is priced on its own, by how much of it you want, so you can always see exactly what you are paying for.

The thinking · inbox

Newsletters

Your notes turned into a finished newsletter, with subject lines, ready to send. The kind of letter people open because it feels like it came from someone they know. One round of tweaks, and a proper read-through before it ever reaches you.

One a month £175 Fortnightly £295 Weekly £495
The thinking · feed

The Reel

Short vertical video scripts for Reels and TikTok. Each one comes with the script, hooks to open with, the words for on screen, a caption, and a shot plan simple enough that anyone on your team could film it between jobs.

1 £70 2 £130 4 £245 8 £460 12 £660
The making · feed

The Production

You press record, we do the rest. Cut to the script, captions burned in, on-screen text, light music, right length, right ratio, ready to post.

1 £95 2 £175 4 £330 8 £590 12 £810

Filmed something we did not plan? We will still finish it, at about 25% more, because footage nobody directed takes longer to cut. That is the honest reason rather than a penalty.

Putting it out · both

The Rhythm

We put it out for you, in either place. Videos scheduled and published across your platforms on a steady beat, newsletters loaded and sent, plus a one-page monthly readback in plain English. Turning up on a rhythm people can feel is most of the job.

Feed £85 to £325 Inbox £95 to £215

Both places, we take 15% off the smaller of the two. We post and we send. We do not reply to comments or DMs.

Your package

Tell us what you want, in plain words

Three questions, no jargon. We will suggest what we would actually put together for you, explain why, and then you can change any part of it.

1

Where do your people actually pay attention?

Not where you think you should be. Where they already are.

2

How often do you want to turn up?

Showing up steadily beats showing up loudly. Pick the pace you would still be glad about in six months.

3

How much of it do you want to hand over?

There is no wrong answer. Handing over more costs more, but not proportionally, and we will show you why.

Answer the three above and we will put something together.

One job

Full price. Just the thinking, which is a perfectly good place to start.

Two jobs 5% off

The thinking plus the making, or the thinking plus the posting.

All three 10% off

Fully done for you. The more you hand over, the less each part costs.

Getting started

The joining fee, and what you actually get for it

You pay it once and never again. Start with newsletters, add video three years later, and there is no second joining fee.

The Setup

£850 one-off
  • The belonging interview, and your written profile. About ninety minutes together, and out of it comes the document everything we ever make is measured against: what you believe, who your people are, the words they actually use, how you talk, your rules and your red lines.
  • A first real piece, not a mock-up. We write, review and adjust until it genuinely lands. Depending on your channel that is a finished newsletter or a first batch of video scripts, and it is yours to use.
  • Your compliance position on file. Before anything goes out: what you can and cannot claim, who can be named, what is never mentioned.

If you are in the inbox, also

  • Your private line built and tested. A direct line into the studio that feeds straight into a working document, so dropping a note takes ten seconds from day one. We set it up on something you already have open, so there is nothing new to learn.

If you are in the feed, also

  • A look at your filming spaces, so we know where the light is and what shots are actually possible
  • A short filming briefing for your team, so nobody freezes when they are handed a phone
  • Your consent and safeguarding framework, if children will ever appear. Built before we film anything, never after

The first few weeks are setting up and testing, but you do not wait weeks with nothing to show for it. You finish the Setup with your profile written and your first real piece in your hands.

Complex setups, such as filming children, several locations or more than one brand, are quoted higher. We always tell you that up front rather than burying it.

Only when you want them

Three things you book only when you want one

None of these is a standing charge and none of them creeps into your retainer. You book one when there is a reason to, and never otherwise.

Book one when you want it

A Filming Day

We come to you, direct and film. Nobody on your team is behind a camera and you are not organising anything. Most people book one every couple of months and bank a batch.

Half day £495Full day £850

Up to 6 or 12 videos. Edinburgh and the Lothians, travel included. The editing comes out of your monthly package, so nothing is charged twice.

When you have something on

The Push

A camp filling up, enrolment opening, a workshop, an event with a date. A short run of plain, human emails all pointing at the one thing, timed to a real deadline. Reads like a friend saying "I did not want you to miss this", which is the only reason it works.

Per push £295 to £695

Add matching social posts and video scripts, from £475.

Starting from scratch

A Launch Push

New, or changing how you talk to your customers? The announcement: here is who we are and what we believe now, and here is what to expect. The moment you plant your flag.

Three emails £395

£595 with matching social posts and video scripts.

Being straight with you

The video we make is not cinematic, on purpose

No big lights. No crew of cameras. No production circus in your workplace. What we make is organic and down to earth, like something a friend would post, just a little more polished.

That is deliberate, and it is also what works. A phone-shot moment of a seven-year-old nailing something outperforms a slick advert every single time, because people believe it. It also keeps the price sensible.

If you ever want a high-end brand film, that is a different job and a different quote, and we will say so.

See it in the wild

We built this for ourselves first

Every part of this ran on a real business first, with real families on the list, before it was ever offered to anyone else. We were our own first client, and we still are.

K
Kev's Class
tutoring · Edinburgh

Kev's Class is a tutoring business with hundreds of families on its list, and for years the newsletter was the thing that never quite happened.

Not for lack of material: a room full of children having breakthroughs every single day. The moments were happening and then evaporating, which is exactly the problem every business we work with has.

So the whole thing got built there first: the profile, the private line, the writing process, the timed runs when camp bookings opened. It now runs as a client of the studio like any other.

"I stopped trying to find time to write, and started just noticing things. That turned out to be the whole trick."

Kev Orme
Founder, Kev's Class and The Belonging Studio


We also work with children's education day to day, which means consent and safeguarding are not something we had to go and read about.

Before you ask

The questions we always get

If yours is not here, ask it on the call. We would rather answer it plainly than have you wonder.

Do I really not write anything?

Really. You send short notes when things happen, and you say yes or "change this" at the end. That is the whole job on your side. Most people find the noticing is the bit they have to learn, not the writing.

What do I actually get for the joining fee?

Your profile, your compliance position, your private line or your filming foundations, and a first real piece of work that is yours to keep. The first few weeks are setting up and testing, but you finish with something in your hands rather than a promise.

Can I just get the editing?

Only if we are also doing your thinking, and there is a good reason for that. If we did not decide what a video says, we cannot promise it does anything for you, and a feed that changes shape every week gives nobody anything to belong to. Cutting footage nobody directed is also slower and worse.

Put the other way round: when we plan the shoot, the editing is better and it costs less.

What if I film something you did not plan?

Send it anyway and we will finish it. It costs about 25% more than a video shot to our shot plan, because there is more to sort through and no plan to cut against. That is the honest reason, not a penalty.

Do I have to be on camera?

For the feed, somebody does, but it does not have to be you. Plenty of the best-performing videos are a team member, a workspace, or a moment happening. And nothing we write needs a performance, because the video is deliberately not cinematic.

Do you reply to comments and DMs?

No, and that is deliberate rather than laziness. When somebody asks a question under your post, that is your customer asking about your business, and the answer should come from you. We post and we send. The conversations stay yours.

What about working with children?

We do this already, properly. Written parental consent on file before anyone is filmed, a clear register of who can and cannot appear, no surnames or details that identify a child's routine, and if consent is ever withdrawn the content comes down immediately, no questions and no charge.

Can I start small and add later?

That is how most people do it, and how we would recommend it. Start with one box, see it working, then add. After the first three months you can add or drop a box month to month, and you never pay a second joining fee.

How far will you travel to film?

Filming days cover Edinburgh and the Lothians with travel included, roughly thirty minutes of the city. Further afield, you film to our shot plans and we do everything else, which works anywhere.

Who actually writes it?

The studio does. Every piece is built on a strategy we design with you, written against your profile, then read, edited and signed off by a person before it ever reaches you. We use good drafting tools the way a studio uses a camera: we point them, we direct them, and they never have the last word.

What if I want to stop?

Three months to start, because a following is built by showing up and one month proves nothing. After that it is rolling, with 30 days' notice, and your final month is delivered properly. If it is a quiet season, pause instead of cancelling and your profile stays warm.

Let's talk about your people

Twenty minutes, and no pitch deck

Tell us about the business and the people you want to keep close, and we will say honestly whether this would work for you, and which boxes we would actually start with.

Takes 20 seconds. No commitment.