In-Depth Audience Analysis
Abstract Jacksonville, Florida’s Chamber of Commerce’s community profile depicts a city in position to grow and attract new business. The city’s site offers information that would appease its audience as well as provide necessary information for new or relocating businesses. An analysis of the site reveals there is room for improvement, but overall the Chamber’s site is well constructed.
An analysis of the audience intended for the message’s receipt indicates the prospective audience are people looking for a beach community with low cost of living, retirees, military personnel, or businesses looking to start a new branch or startup in Jacksonville. Recommendations are made on how to build upon the site to make it appeal to its intended audience and stakeholders. Number One Spot View of the Audience and Stakeholders The message’s view of the audience and stakeholders based on the written profile is a push to build Jacksonville, Florida.
Jacksonville’s community profile has several tabs depicting information on starting a business and getting involved in the community (JaxChamber, n. d. ).
This indicates the Chamber is pushing for growth in Jacksonville. The site uses usergraphics and webographics as an approach to define its intended audience and stakeholders. Bonnye Stuart, Marilyn Sarow, and Laurence Stuart (2007) wrote that usergraphics defines how customers use a product and webogrpahics takes profile information collected by users of the website to track information (pp. 9, 60). These two definitions align with how the Chamber clearly wants to attract businesses and people to the city.
Jacksonville’s Chamber of Commerce (n. d. ) wrote “The mission of JAX Chamber’s Small Business Center (SBC) is to assist the growth and development of Jacksonville’s small businesses community by constantly assessing their needs, collaborating with service providers and offering technical assistance, mentoring and access to capital. This shows it views stakeholders and businesses as a viable source of income and growth in the Jacksonville community. Other factors that align with this view include the useful information about events and information about being an active participant in the business community. A sidebar showing featured events and news also makes the site user-friendly.
Analysis of Community Stakeholders and Audience
An analysis of the community stakeholders and audience using the demographics, geographics, psychographics, sociographics, usergraphics, and webographics described in this chapter reveals Jacksonville to be a city trying to capitalize on a diversity of executives, young married professionals, and military men and women, as well as businesses, moving into the area. Looking at each individually reveals how the site uses the information to specifically target audiences and stakeholders that might be interested in specific information, while leaving other information ambiguous. Demographics
Analyzing the demographic data provided on the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce website, not much is given. This shows the Chamber is trying to focus on the positives of the city. The demographics are very diverse. The city is literally a melting pot of different races, cultures, and people of many different origins as well as immigrants (JaxChamber, n.
d. ). In the tab giving information about starting a business, information can be found linking to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which gives a more clear depiction of the demographics of Jacksonville. The location of the city has much to do with the demographics of the area.
Geographics The website uses the nickname of Jacksonville very liberally, thus showcasing the city’s geographic location. Jacksonville is located in the northeast corner of Florida, which makes it the first Atlantic coastal city of the state, hence the name the “First Coast” (JaxChamber, n.
d. ). This is used heavily throughout the site, along with the shortened version of the city’s name “Jax”. The city’s site offers the audience and stakeholder’s information showing why the city is a viable port city, planted along the Atlantic Coast as well as the St. John’s River.
It also highlights that the city is a resource for the Navy, Marines, Army, National Guard, and Air Force.
Lastly, the city is located in close proximity to Orlando, where Disney World and Universal Studios are located, as well as within driving distance from Atlanta, Georgia and major east coast cities like Charlotte, North Carolina. This makes the geographic information look in favor of Jacksonville for audience and stakeholders wanting to know if Jacksonville will be a great place to live. Aside from the geographic details, information is given as to what others think about Jacksonville.
Psychographics The psychographic analysis reveals the main high points for Jacksonville are its location, weather, and cost of living.
The city is a beach city and a retirement city, so more people looking for water recreation or a relaxing location to retire would consider Jacksonville. Certain businesses knowing the attitudes and culture of beach and retirement-type cities can use this information to determine if their businesses will thrive in the First Coast. This information also indicates the overall culture of the city. Sociographics
Jacksonville’s sociographics are not easily identifiable on the website. The Chamber gives great indication of the type of easy living there is in Jacksonville, but the site leaves little room to determine if the sociographics of the city are categorized in any way. In a sense, the site seems to target individuals and individual businesses, rather than groups or large cooperative partnerships.
This is evident in the wording used on the different subpages such as the word “you” or the constant mention of small business (JaxChamber, n. d. ).
This could be why the site has a section for users to sign up, so the message can be more personalized to an individual or small business. Usergraphics The site reveals a sign up or registration section which indicates the Chamber wants to use information to better analyze the type of people or businesses who may be interested in relocating to Jacksonville.
Using the usergraphic data is a great way to create statistical data that can be reviewed that gives a snapshot of what products and services might most appeal to visitors of the site.
It also creates and immediate link to the visitor in the form of constant email communication via a subscription. The Chamber can use the information to establish a relationship with its visitor to gain more use out of the website. Webographics The site uses a registration portion, but it also uses a frequently asked section, an events highlight sidebar, a calendar, as well as a flash photo montage that scrolls as audience members and stakeholders peruse the site. Using these interactive tools heightens the use of the site and the usage can be tracked.
Links can be tracked for number of clicks. Sub site visits can be tracked, as well as acquiring information about cookies saved that indicate what the audience member or stakeholder is looking at in addition to the Jacksonville Chamber’s website. This information can help the Chamber create automatic messages that highlight what the visitor may be looking for and can be sent in a follow up email to build relations. The analysis reveals the main objective is to drive home the city’s initiatives to grow and bring in business.
Looking at the website in its entirety, there are some room for improvements in regards to the definitions of the audience and stakeholders. Recommendations to Improve the Message The first recommendation to improve the message based on audience analysis is to make the community profile more clear.
A stakeholder must search and go deep into the site, and then be re-routed to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ website to find demographic data, market information, as well as statistical data showing new trends in Jacksonville.
Making this information readily available, perhaps even in its own tab or sidebar link, would help bring this information to the forefront and help the intended audience and stakeholder save time. Another recommendation would be to offer more balanced news about the city. Marketing materials definitely want to highlight rather than bring negative attention, but having some links to local news stations or the local paper may help an audience member or stakeholder get a feel for what it is like to live in Jacksonville.
Bonnye Stuart, Marilyn Sarow, and Laurence Stuart (2007) wrote “Individuals look for information that reinforces existing values or beliefs, resulting in their selective exposure only to certain material” (p.
87). By providing this information in a clearer format, through selective exposure to avoid noise, the Jacksonville Chamber can showcase what Jacksonville has to offer in terms of enticing businesses to start up or move to the city. Another strategy to use to make the Chamber’s vision and mission clear to visitors of the site would be to embed a video showing and talking about the benefits a business would gain by choosing Jacksonville.
Meanwhile, the overall site construction is well done. Rationale Providing the information mentioned above, about statistical data readily available and current events news links would only heighten the site and probably prompt better usage.
When people seek information about a city, the information should be ready and clear to understand. Having to search and follow a long string of links will only confuse the audience member and perhaps discourage a stakeholder who is looking for specific information.
Providing the information quickly saves a researcher time and money. The Chamber will fare well by providing the information and will enhance the already strong website. Conclusion An analysis of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce’s community profile shows the city is poised for growth and attracting businesses to the local market.
The site uses usergraphic and webographic data to formulate a strategic attack on recruitment that aligns with the city’s initiative to grow the state’s First Coast city.
Looking closely at the site reveals it may focus too much on giving information about moving and starting a business while lacking information to substantiate the audience member’s or business owner’s want to move, relocate, or startup in Jacksonville. The recommendations made were to give the site a more user-friendly appeal as well as highlight the overall culture of Jacksonville. By doing these things, the First Coast can rise up to the number one spot it’s aiming for.
