Websites:http://farmvillegreenhouse.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/B-M-Greenhouse-Inc-226809323518/

1. The first constraint for B&M Greenhouse is being a small business. It does not have the resources to spread to areas outside of Virginia and is limited to certain areas within the state that are nearby. The second constraint is that their products are seasonal;  customers only purchase plants during the warmer months. Their biggest constraint is competition from chain stores such as Walmart, Lowe’s and grocery stores. They are able to obtain plants in bulk lots and can offer the consumer much lower prices.

2. The audience perception is a positive one; many have reviewed their excellent products and services. All of the reviews are either four and a half or five stars on the Google business review site.

3. B&M Greenhouse achieves their positive reception by carefully taking care of their plants while offering a customer-friendly environment. For example, in the atrium, there is a small fish fountain which they allow children to feed the fish. The fish gives a more eco-friendly atmosphere to the location. The next strategy is offering part of the greenhouse to garden clubs to hold their meetings there. Sometimes they host community contests, where a person wins flowers. This applies their community rhetoric.

4. B&M Greenhouse uses pathos to create the feeling of a caring and serene environment. Their website reflects that with the use of forest green which is a relaxing color. It soothes the eyes when gazing on it. For the values, they try to follow what the customer wants by checking their Facebook and posting regularly.

5. On their Facebook posts, they present their professionalism by displaying photos and giving the consumer information on their plants.

6. Their rhetoric invites risk assessment because they are open to suggestions and criticism. There are many ways to contact them by phone, email, and Facebook.

7. Yes, B&M Greenhouse presents their services in a thorough, well-explained section of their website. In each section, they included pictures of their work.

WebsiteLink:      http://farmvillegreenhouse.com/

Rhetorical Situations

Exigencies: B&M Greenhouse is a local business and they offer delivery. Since Farmville is centrally located in the Heart of Virginia, it brings new opportunities for a larger market base through plant deliveries.

Audiences: There is no selected audience group. Their rhetoric is focused on all aspects of the community. Their primary audience focus is the local area or for anyone willing to buy their plants, landscaping, and or gardening tools.

Constraints and Assets: Their constraints are caused by being a small local company.  It is difficult to expand their services to locations outside of Farmville and to compete with large chain stores such as Walmart. Their biggest asset is their knowledge of plant life. Sometimes they offer informational workshops that are well attended.

Issues

1. On the website, under their “about us page”, they explain their business mindset of proper plant care. Under the “Greenhouse”, they address a thorough explanation of why they are an excellent choice as opposed to the big box vendors. On the same page, an informational block explains what is in the greenhouse.

2. Their website demonstrates the quality and variety of their plants. It shows that they have listened to their customers and that they are always open to new ideas. Under their “contact us”, their address, phone number, Facebook page and e-mail are listed. Customers are encouraged to propose new ideas. Although, they could provide a more in-depth page on how to take care of the plants and the proper location to plant them.

3. There is more information about their services, but less emphasis about their plants. I have been to this business and they sell a variety of products and plants. On their website, it feels bland. More information and pictures could help the customer understand what kinds of plants they sell.

For this post, I will answer the two assigned prompts for my Client Project: B&M Greenhouse.  How does B&M Greenhouse’s website and Facebook present their rhetorical strategies? How does the website imply their rhetorical situation?

The rhetorical identity of the website characterizes being a neighbor, where anyone can visit and enjoy plants. Their website layout indicates that they care about simplicity and they are well loved by their community. There is a whole page dedicated to their different services such as a greenhouse, garden supplier, and a landscaper. When you click on their top right boxes of these service names, it takes you to the pages of the selected service. In each service, there is a page of explanation how B&M Greenhouse applies these services into their business model. At the bottom of each page, there is a picture of the two opposite services.  It is interesting to note how the landscaping service is presented. The landscaping page has photos of their clients’ projects before and after the landscape designs are completed. Their two biggest clients are Longwood University and Hampton Sydney College. B&M landscaped the High Bridge Lofts and two Hampden Sydney buildings.

A website is a source of advertisement, but people are also using social media outlets. B&M Greenhouse has a Facebook page which anyone can message them. This builds a stronger relationship with their customers by having more direct communication. They upload new posts about their new plants.

For B&M Greenhouse’s rhetorical situation, they are trying to attract new people to their business and services. They closely follow their rhetoric by having a strong sense of community in their website and Facebook page. With this rhetoric in mind, who is their core audience? Being focused as a neighbor and a community business, B&M Greenhouse’s audience is the local population of Farmville and Prince Edward County. The biggest constraint on their business is that they are local; some local businesses can’t expand either financially or with demand for their products. Plants are a product that changes with the season. However, this demand can be satisfied with chain store competition and other local businesses such as the Farmers Daughter.

Website Link:http://farmvillegreenhouse.com/

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/B-M-Greenhouse-Inc-226809323518/

Link: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/

Barnes and Noble is a well-known bookstore and distribution company. Their products are not just limited to books, but also coffee, music, and games. Students purchasing textbooks and parents purchasing games or children’s books form the largest block of their customer base. Barnes and Noble also market their own e-reader called the NOOK and includes their online e-book store. With a diverse customer base, Barnes and Noble have done an excellent job in helping the customer understand their goals and what they sell.

When looking at their website, I was surprised at how bland the user interface looked. New customers are attracted to bright colors and engaging pictures. However, they offer a usable and clear interface on their website which demonstrates that Barnes and Noble care more for a practical rather than a creative philosophy.

I would incorporate a more radiant color scheme. Instead of the dark green logo background, substitute a light blue background with some yellow mixed in. Brighter colors have been scientifically proven to make people more attracted to objects. Another color I would encourage for their website is red. Red is an eye-catching color and it shows passion; it would represent how reading is a passion. Dark green is a good color for older consumers since it represents comfort. but if you want more products sold to younger audiences, it is best to go with red. The next point of improvement is the image links; they are all blocks. Which is an eye-catching visualization of their highest selling products, books. The images in these blocks are properly showing their products with pictures. The TOP 100 book choice list could use improvement. The list is just words on a gray background with no pictures. Consumers who shop at Amazon are used to having the photo of the book and often a few sample pages are included. To improve the list of recommended books is to change the grey to a blue or red background, have the font changed to a more fancier look, and beside each word the pictures of the book. With these improvements, it will make Barnes and Noble more customer-friendly website.

In my research into Coca Cola’s Rhetoric, I have found the rhetorical emphasis on four different points. These four emphasis points are family, health, nostalgia, and unification. With these four points in mind, how does Coca-Cola combat these challenges?

The first point that Coca-Cola addresses are family values. The artifact I selected in the past was the polar bear. It is a simple concept with a variety of marketable opportunities that Coca-Cola utilizes.  Stuffed toys, t-shirts, glassware, and other items subtlely infused the product into the minds of the consumer.

In the modern world, people are more health conscious than ever before. With the obesity epidemic of the twenty-first century, Coca-Cola listened to their customers’ requests and developed healthier alternatives and less-calorie products such as Diet Coke, Coke Zero and Coca-Cola Life. Coca-Cola Life contains two natural sugars derived from the Stevia plant. They also list their ingredients to help people understand what they are drinking.

Nostalgia is one of the biggest marketable aspects that Coca-Cola utilizes in their marketing campaigns. By keeping the traditional bottle as part of their logo, both old and new customers can readily identify with the product. They also make replicas of the retro signs so that nostalgia will make people buy more products.

When a company is manufacturing a product that is sold throughout the world, it can be difficult to adapt the product to the variety of worldwide cultures and tastes. Coca-Cola adapts to the unification problem by making individual types of Coke for the areas that are buying it. However, since Coca-Cola became a global business, they are making their products more in line with one style. This strategy ensures unity within each culture. For example, if an American travels to Japan, it would be easy to recognize Coca-Cola because it has it has the exact same label design as in America.

Coca-Cola is a large dominating company force that provides the masses with an almost infinite amount of beverages around the globe. With over a century of being in existence, Coca Cola has been evolving its massive campaigns to promote their products. There are four points that are to be addressed. These four points are: Exigencies, Audience, Constraints and Assets, and Rhetorical Situations.

Exigencies: Coca-Cola biggest problem is common with any company: adapting to the changing times. As new generations grow up, they have new tastes and want new products that they can adopt as their own. They don’t want products that the previous generations enjoyed. Coca Cola has conquered this problem by making new sodas such as Sprite and Fanta Orange. Another problem that Coca-Cola tackled is the obesity epidemic. To combat this epidemic, Coca Cola supports organizations that promotes public health and research, as well as making healthier alternative sodas such as diet drinks and water.

Audience: Coca-Cola’s biggest audiences are the younger generations such as the Millennials and the Gen Z’s. Many of them are against Coca-Cola; they view it as a large commercial giant. Coca Cola combats this with their “ A Coke For Everyone Campaign” and “Share a Coke” campaigns. These two slogan goals are to encourage friendship with others and the company.

Constraints and Assets: The biggest constraint that Coca-Cola is trying to follow is to listen to the customer and to be honest with them. They follow two of those moral compasses.

Rhetorical Situations:  The public views many large companies as being filled with greedy capitalists who are out to get money and do not understand or care about the wellbeing of their customers. Coca Cola tries to challenge this by making their websites simple and easy to understand their message. They are here for you and have a translucent company policy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzwtzF_EH40

When people think of Coca-Cola, they think of two things: soda and the polar bears.  These creatures have become the mascots of the soda.

It was first created in the 1980’s as a mascot during the Christmas season. It projected an image that Coca-Cola was not a large faceless organization. With this advertising campaign, Coca-Cola was showing that it was part of the family.

In 1993, this commercial was animated to give the warm feeling of comfort and joy showing the bears’ amusement of the aurora borelis. This reflects our own joy of the holidays with our families and Coca-Cola sharing  the celebration.

Another purpose of choosing cute animals such as the polar bear was the merchandising possibilities. The most common of the items was the stuffed polar bear with the Coca-Cola logo on the red scarf. Polar bear clocks with the bear holding a bottled Coke were popular. There are also Christmas ornaments with the bear in a snow globe.

Cute, fluffy polar bears, are a simple and cuddly symbol that speaks volumes in a crowded soft drink industry. Coca-Cola, loves to show this happy group of bears to bring happiness to their customers. Not only in their taste of the sodas but, also in their hearts.

In these next few posts I am covering the Coca-Cola Company. Specifically the Rhetorical aspect of how the company applies this concept into their products and themes.

Post: #3 will cover the famous Coca-Cola Polar bears. How does this affect the people and how does this make people appeal to the company? These questions will be answered in Post:#3 coming soon.

My name is John Ward and this is my first year at Longwood  University.  I am a transfer student from Southside Virginia Community College in Keysville.  My major is English with a concentration in Professional Writing. After graduating from Longwood, my goal is to attend the University of Virginia Law School to major in Administrative Law.

I enjoy video games and have been collecting vintage consoles for several years. I also love to read and write. Although I read many types of books, I prefer three different genres: horror, science fiction, and fantasy . My favorite horror author is H.P. Lovecraft. His writings are unique and have a very deep lore.

During my high school graduation , the senior class were given swords and daggers. The men were given the swords and the girls received daggers. It may sound bizarre that a high school would distribute weapons in these violent, unpredictable times. However, the school is a private school located in historic Appomattox. The unsharpened Excalibur blade represents the classical mindset of the school and it is almost four feet long.

I am excited about this class. I love studying  rhetoric because it will help me in life, especially in public speaking and writing. As a lawyer it is a requirement to be fluent in rhetoric and logic. These two skills are excellent to have in any job field. I hope everyone will enjoy this course as much I will.