Consulting

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The difference we create

From transforming the approaches of a business unit to bringing new ways of thinking to an entire organisation, we find the patterns beneath your problems and turn that insight into action – creating an impact you can measure, and a difference that lasts.

How we help organisations

We give organisations the clarity and insight they need to change for the better. With up-to-the-minute industry expertise in brand, culture and communications, we help employers and education providers to improve their strategies, enhance their customer experience and supercharge their organisational performance.

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Enhancing knowledge

Understanding your audiences, markets and organisational performance to recognise what’s important and what needs to change.

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Developing strategy

Planning an integrated approach to drive positive change.

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Improving experiences

Developing experiences, cultures, brands and communications that will engage audiences, open up opportunities and change lives forever.

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Student experience

Boost student experience and wellbeing with StudentPulse 

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Our experts

We are a richly experienced team of experts who work closely with clients to turn visionary ideas into practical, actionable strategies. Empathy. Understanding. Sector knowledge. Loads of experience. Our team of Researchers, Analysts, Creatives and top-class industry experts have got it all.

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Ed Layt

Head of Consultancy

Ed drives organisational change by embedding collaborative approaches to strategy development and customer-centric cultures.

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Jackie Grisdale

Youth Marketing Consultant

Jackie is experienced in future talent and early careers marketing. She loves the fact that she’s helping young people to find their way in life.

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John Burke

Digital Insight

John builds things that really allow clients to analyse their performance and identify what they can do to improve it.

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Vicky Green

Client Marketing Consultant

Vicky loves a problem. In fact, the bigger the challenge, the higher Vicky’s satisfaction levels are, when she solves it.

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Jon Windeatt

Lead Creative Partner

Jon’s is a passionate believer in the power that shaping and sharing stories has to play in driving organisational change.

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Zoltan Ferenczy

Client Channel Strategist

Zoli has an expert understanding of the media landscape, including bought and managed digital channels and how these form cohesive, long term media…

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Aimee Kleinman

Education Marketing Consultant

Aimee asks the difficult questions necessary to gain a true understanding of a challenge and agree achievable goals.

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Golnaz Sadoughi

Data Scientist Lead

Golnaz analyses past data, to identify patterns and trends that will help predict the future and deliver data-driven, actionable solutions.

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Abbie Baker

Marketing Executive

Abbie loves the opportunity to help solve a problem and make a difference. Whether it’s a data-driven challenge or a chance to think creatively, she’s…

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Adam Brown

Associate Consultant

Adam will quickly get to the heart of an opportunity or problem and develop tailored, sustainable solutions that achieve measurable results.

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Nathalie Mortimer

Associate Consultant

Nathalie is passionate about driving marketing transformation and devising effective strategies to deliver successful business results.

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Nicky Chapman

Associate Consultant

Nicky completely understands the challenges facing universities and their teams. She is well placed to provide strategic leadership and support.

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Tonia Galati

Associate Consultant

Tonia has an in-depth understanding of institutional and HE challenges and is a true believer in the power of collaboration.

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What we've been up to

Telling stories. Sharing content. Predicting outcomes. And voicing our opinion. We believe our industry is all the richer when knowledge and experience is accessible to all.

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Beyond Surveys: Transforming Student Support in Higher Education

Isobel Forsyth, Research Coordinator, SMRS

During my undergraduate degree, I noticed that student feedback surveys were only conducted at the beginning and end of the academic year. The insights gained from these surveys were applied to the next cohort of students. However…

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The critical need to measure student experience and drive action

Ed Layt, Head of Consultancy, SMRS

Providing an exceptional student experience is more important than ever for UK universities, with risks around financial sustainability, changing competitive dynamics and evolving student expectations. However, many providers still struggle to effectively measure key aspects of the student experience…

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Propensity Modelling - Transforming applicant engagement using AI.

Ed Layt, Head of Consultancy, SMRS

Generative AI is clearly getting a lot of attention at the moment – but other applications of AI, which have been around for some time, continue to be powerful tools for marketers to positively impact engagement with prospects and applicants.

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Understanding Media Consumption – The impact of advertising (3/3)

Ed Layt, Head of Consultancy, SMRS

There are many ways to measure the impact of your campaigns and quantitative immediate metrics normally prevail. Impressions, reach, clicks, conversions, return on ad spend, engagement… I could go on. These data points are all valuable – provided they align with your objectives. However, there’s a tendency to look at what’s easy to…

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Understanding Media Consumption – The role and impact of Education media (2/3)

Ed Layt, Head of Consultancy, SMRS

The online prospectus, social media and education media were all ranked similarly as preferred channels for researching HE providers, with around a third of our respondents selecting each of these options. Although these channels were equally preferred when asked how important they are to…

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What’s it like working with us?

We’re constantly learning, exploring and collaborating with all manner of institutions to help them tackle uniquely individual challenges. Here’s what some of our clients think about the work we do.

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Suzy Jenner - Director of Marketing & Communications

Oxford Brookes University

“Delivering an excellent customer experience really matters. And we needed a partner to help ensure customers were the central focus of every individual across the University. SMRS took this critical and comprehensive brief and implemented a clear and methodical approach to help us understand our audience, our current position and what we needed to do to make it better for our customers. The team at SMRS have been a pleasure to work with and their leadership, creativity and approach has been invaluable. The findings have already started to make a difference and we’re continuing to work with SMRS to keep advancing our position.”

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Leonora Clement - Head, Marketing and Communications

Solent University

“Our brand project was a key element of our growth strategy, so we really had to get it right. SMRS have given us a professional brand that not only contains all the necessary foundations and building blocks, but also captures our spirit. It feels absolutely right for who we are and where we’re heading, and it’s giving us the confidence to achieve our goals in a competitive marketplace. Working with SMRS has been, and continues to be, a very positive experience.”

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Rebecca Hollington – Director of UK Recruitment and Partnerships

University of Wolverhampton  

“The outcomes of our work with SMRS on our student journey has helped us to really understand our prospective students and enhance all elements of our student journey from events and activities as a prospective student, through to progression throughout their degree. It’s helped us to prioritise and focus in on what it is that really matters to our students, and how we can best meet their expectations.”

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Dominic Davies - Head of Marketing and Recruitment

City University of London

“We’re delighted. The persona work we partnered with SMRS on is already making a huge difference to the way we communicate, and we’re confident of seeing students responding to messages that are much more tailored to them. The project was incredibly complex, but SMRS made the whole process seem simple and clear.”

Get in touch

Anything you’re thinking about? Anything you want to do? We’re here to help. 

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