Rough Draft

Rhetoric is the language of persuasion, verbal or written. People use it to communicate everyday in both formal and informal situations, consciously and unconsciously. Persuasive and effective communication is especially important within the business world as it serves as the fundamental foundation for any successful organization regardless of its size. This means identifying and understanding the target audience, choosing the correct medium for communicating that build strong relationships. The question is what do potential customers look for the most in terms of written communication with a company of interest? Is it credibility, or being able to connect on an emotional level?  Happy Dogs Ranch, a vacation property available in the Swedish Alps, is featured on two different rental sites—Airbnb and a personal homepage—uses two different two rhetorical appeals, ethos and pathos, to advertise and persuade audiences to stay there.

Kurt Jensen is the owner of Happy Dogs Ranch, a “home away from home” and an Airbnb destination located in the Swedish Alps of Southern Sweden. The property advertises two rentals on the family’s ranch, a cabin and a hayloft apartment where guests can experience the farm-life lifestyle. As the owner, Kurt is responsible for the upkeep of the property, advertising, and most importantly communicating with guests and potential guests both verbally and through written communication. While he has a homepage as most companies do, Kurt is also a member on many different booking and travel websites, Airbnb being one of the most prominent websites where a majority of the informing and communication takes place. I chose this specific company and informant as my interviewee because I am interested in finding out what elements in written communication can make or break the success of a small family-owned business.

Airbnb is the most prominent site Happy Dogs Ranch uses for advertising their vacation rentals. Airbnb was founded in 2008, it is a website for hosts advertising their rentals and for travelers who are looking for a unique place to stay. Users of the site then create online profiles. Host’s profiles include personal information, prices, and details of the space, amenities, visual imagery, reviews and an option for private messaging. Online profiles also allow guests and potential guests to read and write reviews, which contribute to the whole point of the site of becoming a reputable host. As for the website itself, Kurt considers it to have all the “makings” of a good website that allows it to be user friendly. In the academic world of writing one could say that it includes all the conventions of its genre.

Does the host’s description match the customer reviews reviews? Airbnb revolves around customer reviews and the concept of ethos, a rhetorical strategy that displays honesty and credibility through written communication. Therefore customer reviews are essentially the “evidence”. When viewing Happy Dogs Ranch, a potential guest might wonder, “ Does the writer have the experience or authority to write on this subject?” “Are all claims qualified reasonably?” (Lunsford, 2012, 100) The language chosen, tone and visual imagery are all clues that factor in, in determining the effectiveness of the rhetoric. In Kurt’s Airbnb profile he uses words and phrases like “relaxed”, “clean”, “cozy”, “animal-friendly”, “full-kitchen” and “Join us for dinner” to describe the atmosphere of the property and what to expect from the rentals. He describes himself as an honest writer, but to ensure a sense of credibility customer reviews need to verify that this is an accurate description. Some examples of matching reviews to the host’s description include:

“The flat was nice and clean and everything was there for cooking”. -Bende

“We had an absolutely wonderful stay at Kurt and Lis' Cozy Hay Loft! ...The accommodations were very comfortable and we had a great time meeting the animals, especially Lucy the llama and Soda the dog. The best part was joining Kurt and Lis for dinner in their home; we spent several hours chatting and laughing with them, eating fantastic home-cooked food, and enjoying time spent in a cozy house getting to know these wonderful, generous, interesting people.” -Heather

By emphasizing customer reviews through the creation of online profiles, Airbnb ensures an “ethos” way of communicating while traveling. It allows both guests and hosts to feel safe in a trusted living space and most importantly respected while still being able to enjoy a unique living experience. Overall Kurt believes that websites such as Airbnb are very much a “Social media type site” that promotes a lot of communication prior to guests arriving. In doing so he estimates that Airbnb has provided him with nearly half of his customers.  

A personal homepage is a necessity for all companies; HappyDogsRanch.se was created specifically for those who are interested in staying somewhere unique in their travels and possibly educating themselves on a different type of lifestyle. Kurt notes that the target audience or his ideal guests are strictly people that enjoy, “ nature, animals and relaxation.” Which leads to the layout of the homepage, a perfect reflection of the intended audience. It is casual, semi-informal and very info graphic. There are six tabs, “home”, “our story”, “rentals”, “the animals” and “the blog.” At first glance one would notice the site’s vibrant colors, which are attention grabbing yet welcoming. There are also a lot of pictures on the homepage, of the farm and all the animals (2 llamas, 16 sheep, 8 pigs, 10 chickens, 3 dogs, and 4 cats) that Kurt says really “brings the story to life”. Kurt also emphasizes that he created this not so “slick” homepage to promote a relaxed casual environment but also “to not get peoples hopes up to high” like some professional travelling sites might do through misleading photos and fictitious writing. Both of which change the relationship between the sender and the receiver and ultimately defies creating effective content for social media, in this case a successful webpage. (Ch. 7. Crafting Messages for Electronic Media PDF. , 176)

Happy Dogs Ranch’s homepage features rhetoric that revolves around the concept of pathos. Emotional appeals can add “real muscle” to an argument by raising emotions like anger, fear, love and joy that support the writer’s claim. (Lunsford, 2012, 99) Kurt takes on a laidback and friendly tone in a majority of his communication in the sense that he views new and potential guests as friends who he wants to make feel “at home”, if they choose to stay at Happy Dogs Ranch. “Home” being the key word here ties into what makes people feel comfortable, happy, and relaxed. The most prominent example of this is Kurt’s love for the animals that can be felt throughout the written context of the homepage. For example he shares, “for those missing their four legged friend, we have several sizes for you to choose from, that I am sure would love your company.” This strategic use of pathos can lead to effective communication, as it is probably very emotionally appealing to animal lovers. Again this also relates back to being able to correctly identify your audience and decide what type of written communication will build the strongest relationships and bring success to the business.

So in conclusion, which rhetorical strategy is more effective, ethos or pathos? Personally I think it depends on the audience and what convinces them the most, facts or emotional connections. While the homepage is without a doubt an essential tool for any company to have, it seems as though it serves more like a place where one would find additional information. Airbnb however focuses primarily on the concept of ethos and it feels like a more wholesome approach. Online profiles and customer reviews ensure the credibility; they also provide emotional insight through guest’s experiences and simultaneously they play a huge role in determining the growth and success of a business. 

Week 7 Readings + Working Thesis Statement

I particularly found the article "Annoying ways people use sources" to be interesting because I am guilty of starting and ending paragraphs with a quote (but not an overly long obnoxious ones). Although I am not like those drivers who know the general rules and practices but just doesn’t care. I agree with the author of this essay in the sense that quotes in the beginning or end of a paragraph can be confusing and disjointed but I also think that if they are used right, they can act as a “hook” or can be thought provoking in the end. I also agree that it is 100% up to the reader as to what they personally find annoying and what they don’t see eye-to-eye on with the writer.

Chapter 20 in Everything’s an Argument was a good reminder of the rules of academic writing, but it did not present me with any new information.  

Just to avoid having to make an entirely new blog post, here is a potential thesis statement in the works:

Happy Dogs Ranch has successfully created a persuasive homepage using the proper genre conventions including a professional structure, tone, language, and by utilizing the concept of pathos to connect with the intended audience. 

Week 5 readings

“How to read like a writer”:

Writing consists of a series of choices. The authors point is that realizing those important connections between reading and writing can influence they way you write. “You are reading to learn about writing” How was the piece of writing constructed? This makes me think about some terms we covered in class, tone, vocabulary choices, targeted audience, sentence structure etc.

It is really about becoming aware of the different techniques that were used to create the written document and if they appeal to you as a reader and whether or not you would use them in your own writing. For example, using quotes, personally if they are too long I find myself skipping over them, but if they are short and enhance the meaning of the text, I am more likely to read them.

Overall, reading like a writer with the hopes of developing as a writer, reminds me of the importance of being able to identify the conventions of the genre you are reading and what makes it successful or not.

“ I take your point” Ch. 11:

What I take away from this chapter is that actively listening and not just thinking about your own response is a lot like writing successfully, the goal is to identify the audience and write what is appropriate.

“Academic Writing Doesn’t Always Mean Setting Aside Your Own Voice” Ch.9:

I found this chapter to be particularly interesting because I feel that I struggle with finding the right balance in academic writing. Prior to attending AUSB I was continuously taught to only include the “factual” type of information that was needed to back up my thesis rather than expressing my opinion. Whether this was to keep students from “bs-ing” to achieve a certain word count, I don’t know, but it made writing boring and probably pretty boring to read. 

Week 4 Readings

To my understanding, rhetorical analysis means to take a
deeper look at a text to find out whether or not it is persuasive and exactly how
and why that is. I think the questions that the text proposes; “does it move
your heart, win your trust, and change your mind?” ties back to whom your
targeted audience is and what emotions might appeal to them using, pathos, ethos,
or logos.

I thought the Bob Dylan example was shocking yet interesting

in the fact that besides the shock factor there was a deeper story. I think it
explained rhetorical analysis very well in the sense that there might be more
than meets the eye when analyzing what makes an argument successful and
why. 

A little off topic but the one company that comes to mind as being very persuasive is Dove, and their real beauty campaign. I’m sure most people have heard of it, seen their videos or ads but I think they really do pose a strong argument.Pathos is most definitely an obvious factor in their argument, because it is directed to women, especially young women and it is

emotionally relatable. Secondly they use ethos to promote that Dove is not a normal beauty product but a product that promotes self-care. Lastly logos is a part of their campaign as
they hope women will identify themselves as a unique, strong, and beautiful
independent that will take action to help others feel the same.

I found the Finding Evidence chapter to be overall very informative, however I mostly focused

on the interview section since that is our next assignment. When it comes to
interviews I almost always find myself not knowing whether or not I have
prepared the right questions, so its nice to know that by preparing BOTH
factual and especially open-ended questions, you should be able to get enough information
without having to cover all of your questions.

Email Draft

#2

This weeks readings were a good mix of new information and revision.

In the ‘leaping into identities’ chapter, it really highlighted that social context matters when trying to effectively communicate with a variety of different audiences. Tone was another term that stuck out to me, meaning that you want to connect with your audience in a way that will urge them to feel receptive to your message. Personally this makes me think about how I communicate with the different audiences at work; for example the difference in communicating with adult cliental regarding more serious matter versus interacting with the kids on a more relaxed level, my tone completely changes.

‘Crafting Brief Messages’ covered the basic rules of writing a lot of different forms of social media, texts, tweets, blogs, emails and podcasts. The section on email was kind of a review for me, the basic rules to writing an email were covered and I think that will help me in writing the professional email draft.

One thing that did interest me a little was the so-called rise of the “blog” in regards to the business world. When I hear the word “blog” the first thing that comes to mind is something like a fashion blog or just a personal blog. I never really put much thought into the fact that social media sites such as Twitter are being viewed as micro blogging tools capable of community building. I also found it interesting that some companies view blogs as a replacement option for emailing. To me this seems a little less secure/confidential yet productive in the sense that more audience members can be reached without the possibility of the information being considered spam mail. Now I get the sense that blogs are much more useful than I once thought, and like the text suggests, blogs might be the next best way to “foster positive relationships with colleagues, customers and other important audiences.” 

To tie it all together, I found the reading to be quite informative. I have become more aware of writing for specific audiences, making sure I have the right tone and including only the information that is necessary.