With clever concepts  towards more visibility and new colleagues

Clubs have them, voluntary organisations have them, the fire service has them: A shortage of new recruits. ‘In the past, word of mouth was enough to secure new recruits for the fire service - along the lines of “I'm doing a great thing in the fire service”,’ explained Olaf Jongeling to the students at the start of the final presentations at Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences. The deputy head of the Bremerhaven fire brigade and second chairman of the Bremerhaven city fire brigade association came to Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences with his colleagues and the head of the fire brigade department, city councillor Peter Skusa, to be shown digital marketing by the students and to be supported in its implementation. "There has been a core group of firefighters for decades. Now we are realising that interest is waning. We ask ourselves, where are the young people?" The business administration students have a clear answer to this: they are mainly digital!

Digital presence analysed and optimised 

As part of the ‘Strategic and Digital Marketing’ project in the Business Administration course, the fourth-semester students advised the Bremerhaven fire brigade and the city fire brigade association on digital marketing and its implementation. They were accompanied and guided by their lecturers Prof Dr Birte Kemmerling and Prof Dr Barbara Kleine-Kalmer. In order to get a realistic picture, the students first visited the fire brigades in the seaside town and were shown around. In seven groups, they then analysed the existing digital presences, compared them with best-practice examples, identified target groups and how to address them successfully, optimised existing websites and developed concrete plans for the interactive recruitment of young talent.

AI can do a lot of preparatory work

The students believe that the existing fire service websites lack clarity: ‘We know that young people get bored quickly - so it has to be quick,’ the students advised their clients right at the start. This applies to finding the information they are looking for as well as making contact. To illustrate this, the students reorganised their clients' digital presences accordingly. ‘Use the magistrate's chatbot to make contact, it's great,’ the students recommended. They also gave tips on search engine optimisation, appealing colour designs and how to address different target groups. ‘We're about to relaunch our website anyway, so we can learn a lot from that,’ said Stephan Kohfahl, Head of Press and Public Relations at Bremerhaven Fire Brigade.

WhatsApp for reach, podcasts and games for prevention

The students have come up with other valuable recommendations: A WhatsApp channel, for example, could be used to ensure reach without a lot of resources. Prevention topics could be communicated well via a playful quiz or a podcast with checklists. The students also argued in favour of expanding the fire services' cooperation with schools and kindergartens.

"The most important thing: continuity and authenticity"
 
Hauke and his fellow students developed a social media strategy for the city fire brigade association. ‘The most important thing,’ he emphasised, ‘is that the channel is used continuously, with high-quality posts.’ Above all, however, there needs to be a rethink: ‘Social media is the communication channel of today, which many people still don't recognise.’ Because the human resources required for this are limited, he had another tip: "AI can be used for preparation, so a lot is possible from content planning to design. But recording and creating authentic contributions - that still has to be done by humans!"

Collaboration with Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences very valuable‘

’Of course, it's all a bit much at once," admitted Prof Dr Barbara Kleine-Kalmer with a laugh after the three-hour presentation. ‘But we very much hope that you will be able to take away and implement some ideas.’ Olaf Jongeling was convinced of this: "I am very impressed by the commitment shown by the students here. We know that we have to stay on the ball here. We are extremely pleased that we are pursuing this cooperation with Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences." City Councillor Peter Skusa, Head of the Fire Service, could only agree. "My takeaway today is that it is very valuable to work together with Bremerhaven University of Applied Sciences and its degree programmes. You simply become blind to business over time, so the students' suggestions and recommendations are incredibly valuable." Prof Dr Birte Kemmerling is pleased to have given her students the opportunity to work hands-on with real clients: ‘It's a great chance for our students to work independently and in consultation with their clients on a strategy and present them with suggestions for implementation.’

You can apply for Business Administration and many other interesting study programmes until 15 August to start your studies in the winter semester!