Companies of Agrobusiness Niederrhein e.V. learn from students

Why do companies engage in digital marketing? They want to reach their target groups, market their products or services and position their brand. A central element is the website.

It is therefore not surprising that ten member companies of Agrobusiness Niederrhein e.V. took the opportunity to have their online presence analyzed by students of the BA International Business Management course at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences (HSRW) in the summer semester of 2024. The aim: to optimize the company websites through individual recommendations. The project was supervised by Prof. Dr. Marina Gregorić from the Faculty of Society and Economics as part of the “Digital Marketing” course.

Websites, social media and online stores at a glance

In addition to the overall impression of the online presence, attention was also paid to the provision of information on various channels. To this end, the students not only looked at the websites of the participating companies, but also at social media activities and other digital activities, such as existing online stores for commercial customers and/or private end consumers. The students took on different perspectives: How does a customer see the website? Is all essential information visible to potential employees?

The students presented their results on two Fridays in July at the Kleve campus. The participating companies listened attentively to the presentations.

“I was happy to come here to Kleve to see the student teams’ work. We also want to support the young people here and express our appreciation for their work,” says Markus Saphörster, Managing Director of Bejo Samen.

The groups each had 30 minutes to present their results and suggestions and discuss them in the group. The results discussed ranged from general observations such as color choice, structure and loading times of the websites to very specific suggestions such as a reference to a missing call-to-action button, i.e. a lack of opportunities for website visitors to interact with the website, or the recommendation to present the website in other languages.

After the student presentation, each company received a written report on the analysis of its own online presence.

Birger Baetcke, Managing Director of Gartenbau Verheyen-Baetcke, is delighted: “We are going home with lots of new ideas and homework. Although we can see how important the topic of social media is, it often falls by the wayside in our day-to-day work – especially in busy times during the season. Perhaps we can become more active here with student support; we are open to further exchange and, for example, an internship.”

The collaboration between the companies from Agrobusiness Niederrhein e.V. and the student project of the HSRW’s Faculty of Society and Economics was initiated by Regina Bach, Network Coordinator Agribusiness Lower Rhine in the HSRW’s TransRegINT project. Her positive summary:

“We want to develop practicable solutions through our collaboration. I believe that we have succeeded in this case. The students were able to contribute their theoretical knowledge and analyses and work on specific practical examples from agribusiness.”