Australia of Lonely Planet - Website Analysis Using the PAIBOC Principles by Locker and Kaczmarek - Essay Example

Business communication is important in the success of any organization. Good communication is essential in attracting the right audience. Locker and Kaczmarek (2004, p.23) have advised that focus on the audience is what constitutes good business communication. In fact, the basis of good communication lies “on answering the Purpose, Audience, Information, Benefits, Objections, and Context (PAIBOC) questions” (Kushal “Business Communication”, p.23). This paper examines the website for Australia of Lonely Planet - www.lonelyplanet.com/Australia - to make an analysis using the PAIBOC principles as explained by Locker and Kaczmarek. The expectation for the website is linked to its purpose and it target audience. Its purpose is to provide useful and relevant information to backpackers about Australia while promoting Lonely Planet as a company offering backpackers travel services. The website has managed to fulfil its purpose. It provides information on areas such as the history of Australia, wildlife, weather, and places in Australia, which is essential to a backpacker (Goldenberg & Martin 2007). It informs as well as educates. It not only presents Australia as a backpacker’s destination, but also offers guidelines on various aspects that are crucial to backpacking. In fact, it contains a section of tips that would facilitate backpacking. The website is designed in a manner that allows visitors to learn about Australia while directing them to think about touring and backpacking. For instance, it provides information about travel insurance, visa requirements and conditions, costs and money issues, accommodation, and travel documents that are what a backpacker would require. For the company, the website acts as a marketing tool. It not only directs visitors to Lonely Planet and its services, but its contents promote the company. The interesting and useful information would surely bring a sense of expertise, and persuade potential customers into seeking the company’s services. The website is also appealing to visitors and very user friendly (Addison, 2005). The links are functioning and not broken (Edwards 2000). It is therefore an effective contact point to the company that links potential customers. While the website has comprehensive information and appeal necessary to persuade backpackers to tour Australia, it offers links to other options that might be of interest to backpacking. These qualities of the website align well with its purpose, and serve its audience. The target audience for the website is backpackers and any person interested in backpacking travel. The origin, ethnicity or cultural orientation, gender, and age of this audience is not important; however, the persons must be interested in exploring Australia. Furthermore, the website is intended for persons with the desire for adventures, people who are willing to take risks, and are not afraid to do things out of the ordinary. Nonetheless, the audience can accommodate people with different lifestyles, but who are flexible to the nature of backpackers travel. The identification of the audience is important in deciding the information to include in the website. The information must be relevant to backpacking and Australia. A website that is intended to promote a particular country should devote its content about it and not cloud itself with information that would conceal the main subject. This is so in the website for Australia of Lonely Planet that has devoted its contents on facts about Australia. The immediate content conveys to the reader important aspects of Australia and backpacking, and only provides links to other information that might be useful. This allows the website to remain relevant in its main subject, while providing the flexibility for the user to explore other areas. A communication media such as a website can be used to create a rapport between the users and the company. The message in the website for Australia achieves that. It is valuable and well articulated so that it sticks to the reader. The website offers alluring information to the users as well as presents it a manner that would attract both backpacking enthusiasts and non-enthusiast. The visitor is introduced to beautiful places and scenery in Australia and shown how they can travel to those destinations with the little money they have. The graphics and pictorial contents further add to the effect of the textual message. Images of unique scenes that would be of interest to backpacking enthusiasts are posted on the website to strengthen the allure. Furthermore, the images do not fail to capture and represent the people of Australia and their unique culture, wildlife, places and destinations within Australia, beautiful hotels, and unique phenomenon that would be attractive to a backpacker. The immediate message to the viewer is that Australia is a land of beauty and adventure that everyone willing to experience that should make a decision to visit. As is required of a travel guide, the information does not fail to educate the website visitors on crucial aspects that characterise Australia and may affect their tour activities. It guides the website users on travelling requirements including what is expected of tourists or non-citizens, it shows visitors how they could make inexpensive trips and save money, guides them on money exchange, and offers tips that are essential to a backpacker and backpacking expedition. The presentation of the message is beneficial to both the company and the website visitors. The inclusion of pictorial images provides supports of the impression created through textual messages. A variety of pictures representing the people of Australia, events and phenomenon, unique scenes, and so on are used to authenticate the writer’s claim of Australia as a treasure destination. The website also provides testimonials and real examples to its visitors of people who have had backpacking experience in Australia. It includes quotes of real people who have had satisfaction on the tour experience in Australia through Lonely Planet. The testimonials are carefully selected such that they provide information that aligns with the message in the rest of the website contents. These testimonials are further presented in pictorial images to emphasize on their authenticity. The information provided in the website for Australia is not only credibly educative to the general readers, but it also valuable to the Lonely Planet, would-be backpackers and travels. Its saves time for the traveller in finding information necessary to plan a backpacking expedition. Its presentation in a credible manner where support is given for various claims would win the trust of the readers. It is not uncommon to have objections to even claims that are legitimate and full of supporting evidence. It is likely that some readers would object to the claims that seem too good to be true such as extremely cheap travel and expedition and exquisite beauty in Australia. The website invites such visitors to approve the claims through their own experience. It further provides practical examples, outlines the program for a typical expedition, and guides users into participating in the backpacking experience. The website, while is informative and appealing to the audience, some aspects would have greater impact to the users. It is true that the graphics have greater effects and better presentation than the textual contents. The site provides a good balance between the graphical and textual contents such that the message is augmented, and not confuses the reader. The website as a medium has also the advantage of allowing the reader to give and receive feedbacks. Tools are also provided to users so that they can promote it further. Therefore, users who get satisfied with it link it to other sites and internet traffic. The website also incorporates sound as a component to make the message look real. This essay has examined the website for Australia of Lonely Planet through the Purpose, Audience, Information, Benefits, Objections, and Context principles and revealed that it is well designed and articulated to serve its intended audience. Reference list Locker, KO & Kaczmarek, SK 2004, Business communication: building critical skills, McGraw Hill Professional, New York. Kushal, SJ , Business Communication. n.d. FK Publications. New York. Goldenberg, M & Martin, B 2007, Hiking and backpacking, Human Kinetics, United States. Addison, D 2005, Small websites, great results, Paraglyph Press, United States. Edwards, S 2000, The good website guide 2000, Mitchell Beazley, United Kingdom. Lonely Planet. About us. n.d. 18 December 2009. Web. . Lonely Planet. Introducing Australia. n.d. 18 December 2009. Web. . Read More