Clever Student Lets is a student accommodation business based in Plymouth. Over three years, they worked with five groups of Inspiring Futures students, from two different modules.
The projects
Students from Plymouth Business School have undertaken five projects for Clever Student Lets:
1. Creation of a general marketing strategy to attract international students
2. Creation of a social media strategy to attract international students
3. Creation of a welcome pack for international students
4. Undertaking a competitor analysis through secondary research
5. Undertaking primary, customer research
James Deacon, Sales and Service Manager for Clever Student Lets said:
"We set a group of Plymouth Business School students the task of researching what’s most important to international and UK students with regards to accommodation. At the end of module, I was presented with a document that not only gave me a detailed, conclusive, and very thorough account of what we asked for, but it also rivalled some of the marketing and research agencies I have worked with in the past. The project was broad, yet concise in results and summary. A huge target market was studied, and the result was above and beyond what anyone had anticipated. As a result, we made several changes:
- The report detailed that internet is number one priority for most students. On the back of this we upgraded over 350 Virgin Media accounts to the best in the country and received fantastic feedback from students.
- Property maintenance and similar areas were a high priority for international students, so we hired two extra staff and created positions dedicated to improving maintenance inspections. Again, a great success.
- The report’s feedback from international students has also seen us employ a Chinese specialist to improve our communication, as it removes one of our major language barriers.
In summary, the Inspiring Futures students’ report has helped us sharpen our sword and I look forward to future groups researching this ever-changing market."