Consulting
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.
Enhancing knowledge
Understanding your audiences, markets and organisational performance to recognise what’s important and what needs to change.
Developing strategy
Planning an integrated approach to drive positive change.
Improving experiences
Developing experiences, cultures, brands and communications that will engage audiences, open up opportunities and change lives forever.
Student experience
Boost student experience and well-being with StudentPulse
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.
Ed Layt
Head of Consultancy
Ed drives organisational change by embedding collaborative approaches to strategy development and customer-centric cultures.
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.
John Burke
Digital Insight
John builds things that really allow clients to analyse their performance and identify what they can do to improve it.
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.
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.
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…
Tim Landucci
Education Marketing Consultant
Tim is passionate about the power of insight and how it can help institutions define a more strategic approach and gain a deeper understanding.
Aimee Kleinman
Education Marketing Consultant
Aimee asks the difficult questions necessary to gain a true understanding of a challenge and agree achievable goals.
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.
![Abbie B[31]_mono](https://www.smrs.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Abbie-B31_mono-752x752.jpg)
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…
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.
Nathalie Mortimer
Associate Consultant
Nathalie is passionate about driving marketing transformation and devising effective strategies to deliver successful business results.
Nicky Chapman
Associate Consultant
Nicky completely understands the challenges facing universities and their teams. She is well placed to provide strategic leadership and support.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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…
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…
Understanding Media Consumption - The surprising truth about prospective student’s media habits (1/3)
Ed Layt, Head of Consultancy, SMRS
Late last year, I was thinking about how prospective undergraduates really use media to make decisions. We have comprehensive campaign performance data at SMRS which shows that engagement with media changes constantly, it’s why continued monitoring and optimisation of campaigns is so important. But the data doesn’t tell us why people are using the channels they do and what their true purpose or intent is.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
