Enterprise Marketing Scheme

Student-led businesses can apply for either £1,000 or £2,000 worth of marketing resource to deliver specific marketing projects (see ‘Example Marketing Projects’), to support the development of their businesses.

The funding will be administered to the marketing student that delivers the project, to cover their time working on the project. Each student will receive a maximum of £1,000 prize-funding to deliver the project.  The business will not directly receive any funding, however the business will benefit from the marketing expertise, resource and support delivered by the marketing student.

Student-led businesses will select from a list of pre-defined marketing projects that they would like the marketing student to advise / deliver on. Each project in the predefined list has an approximate value of £1,000, based on an estimate of the number of hours expected to deliver the project (~80 hours) and the standard hourly student pay determined by the UoS.

Marketing students will apply to be part of a potential ‘talent pool’ to deliver the marketing projects for the student-led businesses. Short-listed marketing students within the ‘talent pool’ will be matched with short-listed student-led businesses and a ‘matching’ meeting will be facilitated by the Student Enterprise Team to confirm mutual fit.

If all parties are happy to proceed with the project, the project will be approved, and initial funding will be released. Final funding payments will be dependent on the completion of a final meeting and impact statement by the business and marketing student.

We plan to run two cohorts for the Enterprise Marketing Scheme in 2025:

• Cohort 1: March – May 2025.
• Cohort 2: June – August 2025 (to be confirmed)

***We strongly recommend all those interested in applying read all the information about this scheme in full***

If you have any questions or want to discuss your eligibility for the Enterprise Marketing Scheme you can Book a 1:1 Student Enterprise Appointment with a member of the Student Enterprise team. 

Book 1:1 Appointment

We highly recommend you book a 1:1 appointment to increase your chances of success.  

You can contact the Student Enterprise Team at studententerprise@soton.ac.uk. 

Below is a list of example marketing projects that can be selected by the businesses as well as example activities and deliverables. The exact frame and scope of each project will be agreed in the first few weeks of the project.

Each marketing project is estimated to be worth ~£1,000 in value, based on an estimated ~80 hours to deliver each project and the current standard UoS student pay. (i.e. ~80 hours @£12.21 National Living Wage is approximately £1,000).

Example Marketing Projects:

Marketing Strategy – desk research

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Competitor & market analysis
  • Brand objectives, positioning, & value proposition evaluation
  •  Target customer persona development
  • Marketing channels analysis
  • Provide recommendations & implementation plan
  • Initial implementation of any quick wins if/where possible

Marketing Strategy – primary research

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Design interview approach
  • Identify & Recruit interviewees
  • Conduct interviews
  • Write up interview outcomes
  • Provide recommendations & implementation plan

Brand strategy

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Conduct market research, write up analysis
  • Make suggestions for logo, colour palette, fonts and imagery
  • Brand strapline / Value proposition
  • Tone of Voice
  • Suggest design / content mock-ups
  • Implementation plan
  • Initial implementation of quick wins

Social Media – evaluation, strategy development, & management

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Social Media evaluation (of founder’s current offer vs competitors / industry)
  • Social Media strategy
  • Social media plan with recommendations
  • Mockups of copy & images
  • Initial implementation of recommendations

Website – review & strategy

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Website evaluation (of founder’s current offer vs competitors / industry)
  • Website / e-commerce strategy
  • Website plan with recommendations
  • Initial implementation of recommendations

Website – design

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Website design brief
  • Website design document
  • Wire frames
  • Basic website build (if relevant)
  • Implementation plan and recommendations

Promotion – Press & PR

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Evaluation of role and potential value of PR
  • Press list (e.g. networks, media sources, associations, key influencers)
  • PR plan
  • Mock up outreach emails / content
  • Initial implementation of recommendations

Copywriting & content management (ideal for more established offer)

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Evaluation of current activities
  • Recommendations for content / design / mockups (e.g. blogs, newsletters, social media copy, email campaigns)
  • Implementation plan and recommendations
  • Initial implementation of quick wins

SEO Website Optimization (ideal for more established offer)

• Example activities & deliverables:
  • Evaluation of current performance vs most immediate competitors
  • Key words analysis
  • Proposed strategy, plan and implementation recommendations
  • Initial content planning and creation
  • Initial implementation of quick wins

Project Structure

Each project will broadly follow a similar structure. Before each projects starts there will be an introductory ‘Matching’ meeting between the business and marketing student during the project matching process, as well as a project kick off meeting. These initial meetings will be used to agree and align on project objectives and scope as well as timelines and ways of working for the project.

Once the frame and scope have been agreed, the projects will kick off with an initial research phase (Ph1) of approximately 2 weeks. At the end of this phase, there will be another joint meeting to discuss initial findings and agree the plan and objectives for Phase 2 of the project, where recommendations will be developed, and some implementation may take place.

The final week of the project will be focused on summarizing recommendations, developing implementation plans and ensuring effective handover to the business.

There will be a final project review meeting to discuss project outcomes and impact, and to reflect on learnings.

Project Oversight

Project oversight will be provided by both Student Enterprise and the Dept of Digital & Data Driven Marketing in Southampton Business School, with dedicated point people from each side. A number of regular meetings and check-ins will take place between all stakeholders throughout the project to address any challenges or bottlenecks and steer the projects to ensure alignment of outcomes.

Each project will begin and end with a joint meeting, involving the Student Enterprise Team, the Marketing School, the business and the marketing student.

At the end of the Research Phase (Phase 1) there will be an additional joint meeting to review initial findings and agree the plan for the remainder of the project. There will also be additional check-in sessions and both the business, and the marketing student will be required to complete a weekly status report and an end of project feedback and evaluation form, to gather learnings, reflections and project impact.

In addition to the oversight meetings, the Student and Business are expected to work collaboratively and meet on a regular basis to ensure successful delivery of the project objectives.

Oversight Meetings:

Marketing Students:

• The scheme is open to any current marketing student (2024)
• International Marketing Students are eligible to apply for the scheme, however they are responsible for ensuring they do not exceed work restrictions of their visa. Please visit the government website for further guidance on what you legally can and cannot do when studying on a general Student Visa: https://www.gov.uk/student-visa
• Eligible marketing students are not required to have previous real-world business experience. However, at a minimum they must be able to provide evidence of personal drive, initiative and self-motivation, as well as a strong performance track record in their studies.

Student-Led Businesses:

• Current UoS students and those who have graduated within the last 36 months, who are currently running a UK registered business (includes UK limited companies and UK sole traders), are eligible to apply for marketing support for their business via the scheme
• At a minimum, eligible student-led business must be able to provide strong evidence of customer validation, ideally through paying customer traction.

If you have any questions or want to discuss your eligibility for the Enterprise Marketing Scheme you can Book a 1:1 Student Enterprise Appointment with a member of the Student Enterprise team. 

Book 1:1 Appointment

We highly recommend you book a 1:1 appointment to increase your chances of success.  

You can contact the Student Enterprise Team at studententerprise@soton.ac.uk. 

Stage 1:

• Student-led businesses must complete an application form demonstrating evidence of business viability and what the potential impact of marketing support could have on their business development and growth
• Marketing Students must complete an application form via Santander Open Academy, demonstrating their skills and experience and suitability to work with student-led businesses
• Applications will be short listed based on the application form, which includes a 2 minute pitch video 

Stage 2:

• Short-listed businesses will be matched with short-listed marketing students by the Student Enterprise team
• A meeting will be held between the matched business and marketing student to establish a mutual fit and working relationship
• If all parties are happy to proceed, the project will be approved for funding

Key Dates Cohort 1, 2025:

• Business applications open: Monday 20 January 2025
• Business applications close: Sunday 9 February 2025
• Marketing Student applications open: Monday 26 January 2025
• Marketing Student applications close: Sunday 23 February 2025
• Matching sessions 3-7 March 2025
• Projects kick off: WC 10 March 2025

Applications for the Enterprise Marketing Scheme 2025 – Cohort 1 are now Open.

• The prize funding will be administered to the marketing student(s) that delivers the project for the business and not to the business itself.
• Marketing Students can apply for up to £1,000 each in funding to deliver a marketing project for the short-listed business. Each marketing student can only work for one business (i.e. one marketing student cannot work for multiple businesses on different projects and receive more than £1,000)
• Businesses can apply for either £1,000 or £2,000 worth of marketing support. It is possible that 2 different marketing students could work for the same business delivering a value of £2,000.
• Successful Marketing Student applicants will be expected to deliver the approved marketing project/s, for the student-led business within the approximate time estimated. Any additional hours will need to be mutually agreed between the business and the marketing student but will not be funded.
• Student Payments will be initiated after completion of the ‘End of Phase 1 meeting’
• The final payment will be dependent on completion on the allocated hours, delivery of final meeting and receipt of an ‘Impact Statement’ from the student and business.