Month: October 2018

https://www.theoutdooradventurestore.com

1. ) While The Outdoor Adventure store offers quality outdoor apparel and experiences to it’s customers, one major constraint that applies to risk rhetoric is their effectiveness on assuring public safety among their consumers. This organization provides it’s customers with the ability to explore FarmVille through their bike and kayak rentals, however, nowhere on  their website does it explain how they can guarantee safety for the customers.     I believe if potential customers were able to have a better understanding of their safety policy, more would be likely to rent bikes and kayaks from the store.

2.) Non-experts qualify as the audience for this organization. While The Outdoor Adventure Store does a great job targeting it’s audience of frequent exercisers, or adventure junkies, it’s store is open to anyone among the public to come into  their store. Therefore, their audience is not restricted to just professional athletes, per say, or highly skilled outdoor enthusiasts.

3.) In regards to risk, The Outdoor Adventure Store remains strict on what it’s organization promotes. By only offering outdoor gear, activities, this organization has the potential to attract experts to their store. For example, someone from an expert audience may be a frequent consumer of North Face backpacks, and if they were to come across the store, they could start a movement on getting more expert audiences into the store. However, as of now it is still open to the general public. Thus the strategies they use for their non-expert audience is that they allow for anyone to enter the store at their choice.

4.) I observed that The Outdoor Adventure Store’s “Service Center” tab offers a safety check, for $25. The safety check is an inspection process on bikes. While this does ensure proper safety, it does not apply to all the bikes they rent out. It means that audiences can come in and have their bikes inspected for a small fee. This is, however, one minor way that the organization appeals to credibility within their organization, because they offer safety precautions to their customers.

5.) Because this organization needs improvement on promoting public safety, I would gather that as of now they are not entirely qualified to speak about this particular risk topic. However, they can fix this problem by altering their website so that it goes into depth about how they value the protection of their customers. For example, they could say that all customers are required to wear a helmet.

6.) Considering that there is frequent room for improvement with risk, The Outdoor Adventure Store invites participation in the risk assessment process. One way the store can provide participation is by hiring an expert on outdoor safety, and they can give them tips on how to provide their customers with  guaranteed safety.

7.) Since the organization does offer outdoor activity, that is one way it allows the audiences to make fully informed choices on whether risk is likely to occur. A potential audience member may want to know how this organization ensures a safe experience for them when renting a bike or kayak, and yet because the website does not give an explanation, they may assume consequences of their experience, such as falling off the bikes and not having any assistance provided.

As I continue to analyze my selected organization, The Outdoor Adventure Store, for this post, I will be focusing on what the site lacks.

Rhetorical Situation:

1.  Exigencies: The Outdoor Adventure Store’s site lacks information on the “story” of their organization. Most often, organizations will provide content on how their organization came about, whether it’s from previous experiences, or just simply what it took for the organization to get to their success. A story offers the audience the ability to have a more clear understanding of why the organization is passionate about what they do. For my selected organization, however, they do  not have a written story in their site. I would say that this is an opportunity for the organization to grow in their business by producing new content on their website. The website can be found here: https://www.theoutdooradventurestore.com

2. Audiences: The most appropriate audience for this situation are functional audiences. The audience members include people such as customers and employees. (Hoffman, Ford, 123). The Outdoor Adventure Store provides potential customers with efficient outdoor gear, as well as entertainment around FarmVille with their rentable bikes and kayaks. Therefore, without customers, the store would not function at all. The employees too, play a large role in the organization, because they are the foundation of the store when it comes to providing their customers with the full experience of their organization.

3. Constraints and Assets: In order to answer the exigencies, what may be difficult for the organization is figuring out how to produce new content for their website. I have gathered that they do not spend a good deal of time on their website, therefore, they may need to hire someone more equips in the technology field to create a more engaging site. The preexisting beliefs that could affect how the message is interpreted would not interfere with it’s audience, because they have not changed the way they run their store. That is, they are still an organization that focuses on outdoor activity.

Issues:

1. The organization does not focus on particular issue, however, if they were to focus on a possible lack in exercise or outdoor activity, they would be qualified in a sense that their organization sells outdoor gear.

2. I do not see any evidence from previous audiences that they have been consulted and had a reasonable opportunity to influence the process, mostly because the website does not exemplify a specific issue it’s focusing on.

3. Although no specific issue is focused on, what is clearly said is that this organization promotes outdoor activity. Therefore, some research could be done on whether or not society has a whole should get outside and get active more, and this organization would go hand in hand with that issue because of what their organization offers.

4. The Outdoor Adventure Store de-emphasizes information that might influence the issue, because the audience is unaware of an issue they are focusing on, and they do not have a story to tell, yet.

 

https://www.theoutdooradventurestore.com

1. Identifying Strategies of Organizational Rhetoric

a) The Outdoor Adventure stores uses association one way through their media, by showcasing an image of the store on the front of their website. This way, potential customers are able to get a feel for the store before even coming in when they explore the website. The picture is specifically inviting, as all the products are neat and organized, and thus, their content suggests that this store is a friendly and welcoming environment.

b) When it comes to differentiation, one strategy that the outdoor adventure store uses is that they offer free shipping on their products when customers spend over $50. This strategy allows the store to provide a unique option of payment, whereas other stores may not have this option when purchasing. It also encourages customers to spend a certain amount of money in order to save on shipping.

c) Branding is very apparent on this website. The Outdoor Adventure Store is known for selling various popular brands such as Patagonia, The North Face, Life is Good, Keen, and more. While these aren’t the stores brands, by offering such high demand products in their store, they can target a wider audience, and thus, grow in their own personal brand. The design of the store’s brand emphasizes that they promote outdoor activity, however, I feel as though they can elaborate more on their design.

d) These strategies help create a clear idea of what this company is all about. The Outdoor Adventure Store is unique in a sense that it is local, and competition is low. Therefore, they are given the availability to emphasize what makes their store great in order to attract customers. These strategies specifically help this organization maintain a focus on their local store, meaning that they can urge the public to see what they have to offer because they are different from larger stores that sell similar products.

e) Channels of delivery help spread the word to the public about organizations. Through blogs, people can see certain images on the organization’s profile of and keep up with specific events. Consumers can then be directed to a certain the website through their blog page. However, this company lacks an up-keep of their blog, therefore, some critiquing must be made.

f) The Outdoor Adventure Store is already known as a local store in FarmVille. People come to purchase their products, but more importantly, they rent bikes and kayaks from the store, which allows them to explore FarmVille. In order to maintain their identity to advance their own goals, this store can create a social media page in order to advocate for their store so that more people from the FarmVille community and beyond can find out about this store.

2. Key Elements of the Rhetorical Situation 

a) I would say that this is a situation that calls for identity-building rhetoric. While they are the only store in FarmVille to be an outdoor adventure store, they do not promote themselves effectively through media, and thus, business can be slow. I suggest that they can improve and bring more customers in by emphasizing how their store allows people to see FarmVille through and outdoor perspective. By displaying images of people in their products on social media, more people can become engaged with the store.

b) Functional audiences seem to be the target audiences in this situation, because without customers, this store would not make it very far. I think they store is very reliant on it’s customers, as well as employees, because their jobs keep the store whole. The employees of this store serve a purpose to promote the positivity of the store, and the customers keep it running smoothly by consistently purchasing their products.

c) I think that consistency is a constraint in this case. It’s noted that it’s important to be consistent with the rhetoric of the organization, and this organization is not extremely consistent in keeping up with the content of their website and their blog. This constraint may make it difficult for potential consumers to keep up with new things going on in the store, such as new deals on products, or store hours.

I have selected The Outdoor Adventure Store as my business that I will be analyzing and critiquing for my project. The Outdoor Adventure Store is a small business located in FarmVille, VA.

https://www.theoutdooradventurestore.com/

Analysis of the Website:

The website displays their products on the home page, therefore, the audience is able to make immediate decisions on purchasing the outdoor gear they sell. The story of the company is left unsaid. I believe when a business shares how they came about their company, buyers consumers are more intrigued to by their products, because they know the quality better. There is no specific speaker on the site, but there is a phone number for contact information. Anyone who enjoys the outdoors may find themselves on this site. While this business does attract people who prefer to spend their time outdoors, this limits them to more potential customers, because they only appeal to one particular group. They do, however, collaborate with several brands, such as Patagonia, The North Face, Life is Good, and more. I know for me personally, I am not constantly outdoors, however I love Patagonia’s clothing.

Improvement:

I would improve this site’s rhetoric by expressing my ideas to this company of how it can appeal to a larger audience. For staters, I would suggest that they implement the story of their company onto their site. I would also suggest that they showcase the brands that their store sells in a larger way, so that more people can see what they sell, and attract more customers. The uniqueness to this store is that it is located in FarmVille, VA. Their logo does not incorporate their location, therefore, I’d recommend that they include visuals of FarmVille into their logo.