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By Laura Smith (Team Leader, at Boost Your Business Consultancy – the Business Clinic student-led organisation that helped with its digital marketing strategy.)
I initially found out about the Business Clinic when working out my course options. I teamed up with my friend, Ella, who I’d already worked with during a placement. We knew we worked well together so we picked options that would benefit both of us and help us reach our career goals.
My main goal was to get some real-world experience to make my CV stand out. I knew that writing a dissertation wouldn't give me the same hands-on experience. I was really looking to develop my teamwork and project management skills on a live project.
asked us to research suitable events to help them celebrate the charity’s 200th anniversary, as well as raise the profile and awareness of the organisation more generally in the local area. We conducted competitor, secondary and primary research, including a community online survey and four one-to-one interviews with RNLI volunteers and supporters. We also identified areas where we could improve the RNLI’s public communications and social media usage and recommended activities that could help them raise awareness, including a RNLI-branded ice cream van and an annual mosaic competition.
Our recommendations were broken into three tiers – bronze, silver and gold. Our bronze offering featured a 200-minute mega raffle and a special RNLI Legacy Film Night event, while our silver option was headlined by a monthly social club that would bring together members of the Cullercoats community. The gold tier, our premium recommendation, centred around Harbour Day 2.0. Our aim was to enhance the traditional features of Harbour Day, a spectacular fun-filled day of family-friendly activities, by adding more interactive components to attract a larger audience.
When we presented our findings, we were delighted to receive positive feedback across the board. The team at the lifeboat station said they may need to make a few tweaks to our recommendations to suit their business needs, but generally they were happy and found the recommendations useful. They were great to work with, offering support throughout the challenges that came our way during the project, and we were determined to meet their timescales and deadlines.
The project really improved my work ethic and motivation. I honed essential skills including teamwork, communication and project management, and working in such a close-knit team was a very different experience to working on the usual university group projects; it allowed for deeper collaboration and understanding among our team members.
As the project wrapped up, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I saw how much I’d grown and now I feel ready for future professional challenges. I highly recommend the Business Clinic to other students as it’s great for building practical and employability skills. The support and hands-on experience I received were much more valuable than a typical management course or dissertation.
My time with the Business Clinic shows how powerful practical, real-world learning can be in higher education. Through teamwork, industry exposure and personal growth, I now feel ready for a successful career in marketing management.
Real-world projects are just one way students could get hands-on experience at 51. We call it experiential learning and there are lots of ways to get involved.
Depending on your course, you might be able to get involved with professional projects, workplace simulations, industry placements, internships, and more.
Find out more on our Experiential Learning hub.
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