The story behind the studio
Every business has a story at its heart
I'm Hayley
I came to the world of marketing like a creative iceberg (that has zero desire go sinking any world famous ships).
Before copywriting and web design, I spent my childhood through to university drawing and painting. Then I trained as a professional actress, which taught me the power of story and the word.
None of it was a detour. More creative strings to a rather useful bow.
My copywriting career has included helping small yet ambitious start-ups and national company rebrands with big London agencies. Which is where I discovered the work around branding, and came full circle.
Branding is storytelling, and storytelling is a craft you mould from the inside — on to the stage, page, canvas and website.
Story. It’s the reason you started
The tale behind the thing you do that no one else quite does, is also the key to your marketing success.
How I work — from the inside out
Branding, and all marketing, is simple.
Simple doesn’t mean easy, however there is a path any business can follow. I call it the Brand Body™ Method.
Someone asks for a logo, picks a colour, chooses a font — and hopes a business will somehow grow to fit them.
I work the other way round: inside out, foundation first, so that by the time we reach the things people see, every one of them is expressing something real underneath.
The Brand Body™ Method works in five clear stages
First, the heart. Your story.
Let it call out from the hilltops.
This is the pulse everything else takes its rhythm from, and finding it is the part I love most.
2. The bones. The structure & strategy.
Build it on a rock.
This is all about who you're here to help and serve, what you offer, why it matters and how it's all arranged.
3. The voice. Your brand’s voice.
Connect instantly with your people.
This is where we develop the tone, the vocabulary and the phrases that are unmistakably yours. So everything you write is engaging, because it’s real.
4. The face. More than it looks.
Your brand’s palette, fonts and visual identity.
The way a brand looks should be the last thing on the list, because it has to express everything beneath it. A face is alive because of life behind the eyes.
5. Skin in the game.
Your website and online home.
The living, digital space where the world can meet, read and reach your business.
By the end of this process, you don't have a logo and a hope. You have a brand that's fully embodied — one that holds together because it was built to.
I work with you from start to finish
When you work with H. A. Powell Studio, you work with me — from the first strategy conversation to the last line of copy.
Nothing gets handed down to a junior. I take on one project at a time, so each one gets the attention it actually needs.
Life beyond
the work
I live in a cottage in Wiltshire, on the edge of the Cotswolds, usually with my dog Samson somewhere on the couch or somewhere cosy.
I'm happiest outdoors, and by my passion for made-by-hand things and beautiful, considered work that makes life better each day.
That belief leads the whole studio.