Benefit from a free comparison of your online presence with your competitors’

Could your business benefit from a free comparison of your online presence with your competitors’, undertaken by students from Plymouth Business School?

Students from a range of business programmes will be studying ENT101 ‘Entrepreneurial Thought and Action’, allowing them to explore theory associated with entrepreneurship before putting it into action through a practical exercise. This helps them develop their business awareness and develop transferrable employability skills whilst supporting the local business community. Their fresh perspective and analysis can be as insightful and effective as expensive consultancy.

The module starts on the 3^rd February. Students attend lectures and tutorials which prepare them to undertake a simple consultancy project: a comparison of a business’s online presence with their competitors’, looking at the business’s website and social media.

If your project brief is accepted, you will work with 2 groups of students. Each group will work independently from each other on the same project brief and each group will consist of approximately 5 students. Each group will have a leader.

Your project brief will be allocated to both groups of students by their tutors in week commencing 3^rd February. The leaders from each group will then contact you to arrange meetings with their group ASAP so that you can give them more information about your business, details of the project’s objectives and they will ask you further questions. You will need to hold 2 meetings, one with each group. These meetings should take place online using Zoom or Teams. This is also a good time to arrange when you would like updates from the students throughout the project and by what method e.g. once a week via email or Zoom. During the project, the group leaders will communicate with you by email with any further questions their group has. You need to be able to respond to them within 2 working days as the module duration is very short.

Teaching ends on the 26^th March. Once the students’ work has been marked, towards the end of April, I will send you a link to the students’ work via SharePoint. The students produce a video presentation along with a report which will document their findings. You will be asked to complete a short feedback form and encouraged to provide students with LinkedIn recommendations.

Please note, students are at the beginning of their academic journeys and whilst most projects are beneficial for the clients, unfortunately, we cannot guarantee results. Projects must be low risk, not urgent and not business critical. All students work remotely, online and are not permitted to work from your premises. They should not be given passwords/access to your social media accounts etc. Students cannot be expected to make calls or emails to competitors (e.g. no mystery shopping) or implement any strategies (e.g. no posting on your social media accounts).

If you are interested, please contact Penny Hele requesting a project brief template and return i as soon as possible as applications will be considered as they are received. It does not take long to complete.