Target Audiences
Graeme Burton identifies the difference between socially grouped audiences and media grouped audiences. Continually, Hartley has gone on to expand on Burton’s classification.
Hartley’s category ‘Self’ applies to my product as I feel my audience would be able to relate to this as they are grouped by their aspirations. For example, if your target audience were business people, the creator of the magazine would make this more formal in which would more likely apply to the stereotypical businessman or women.
Another category, which may apply to my music magazine, is ‘Gender’. The genre of my magazine will be ‘Rock’ therefore I will be targeting both male and female of a certain age group.
‘Age group’ is also a category of Hartley subjective. Different age groups stereotypically have different priorities, needs and aims in their life. In which case, I have indentified the age group of young teenagers to middle aged, however often there is the limitation of others who also enjoy this who aren’t in this particular age group.
‘Class’ is also very important when identifying a more specific audience as for my product is not stereotypical that a higher-class person is unlikely to take interest in a ‘Rock’ magazine. As identified I feel my product is for a certain age group and both genders, as I need to offer appropriate motives. As my magazine is aimed as a lower class and young age group an idea would be to advertise free downloads in which would attract my audience in which saves them money. However if I was aiming to attract a higher class I would be looking to make my magazine more sophisticated.
Fiske added a further five factors to be considered when identifying audiences. One of the categories was ‘Education’. This suggests that the level of education received by the audience can offer different ways in targeting them in which can reflect on their ‘Class’ as above. The product I am going to design is aimed a lower/middle class people therefore stereotypically have been to a state school in which could interest to different things as their education can reflect on what they enjoy.
Social class plays a huge part when trying to address your target audience. The ‘Social Status Classifications’ is to show that the social status of an audience group has an impact of the motives you will want to offer. In this case, most of the society falls into a C, D and E category.
Abraham Maslow stated that all products need the same basic needs. It has been said that if your production targets these, you will have a greater change of success. The four main needs are Biological, Safety, Esteem and Affiliation. I am going to try using all of these to help me target my audience as I am hoping that I can present these to my audience in order to make them listen to the message.
It is known that different audience groups respond to different motives. For example, teenagers are more likely to respond to message offering a loss or gain relating to an image. Therefore I have chosen to take all of these above into account to help me to make the most appropriate magazine for the target audience I am trying to attract.
In conclusion, my profile target audience is going to be aimed at the lower/ middle class between the ages of teenagers to middle class. Both class and age are seen as very important, however although I am aiming it at a specific subjective it is likely that their will be the limitation of people who also enjoy this even though they are not in the targeted age group or class. I am also aiming my music magazine at both male and female.
Questionnaire
Please tick the box of your choice for each question below.
Which gender are you?
Male
Female
What age category do you fit in?
15 and under
21-25
26-30
16-20
31 and above
Do you fill that the imagery and colour of the front cover of the magazine will effect whether you will buy it?
Yes
No
Not sure
If a freebie is not attached would it affect whether you bought the magazine?
Yes
No
Not sure
How much do you think is appropriate to spend on a magazine?
Under £2
£5.01 or over
£2.01-£5
How many magazines do you buy a month?
2 or less
6 or over
Between 3-5
What is your favourite genre of a magazine?
Music
Health and Beauty
Gossip
Sports
Other
Lesuire
What is your favourite genre of music?
Rock
Rap
Other
Pop
Which things do you expect to see in a music magazine? Tick as many as you think.
Interviews
Advertising
Imagery
Are you more likely to purchase the magazine if there are posters inside?
Yes
No
Not sure
Would you rather a band be on the front cover or a solo artist?
Band
Not sure
Solo artist
Would you prefer well-known artist or a new unknown band or solo artist on the front cover?
Well known
Not sure
Unknown
Thank you for participating in my questionnaire.
Analysing The Questionnaire
Purpose:
The purpose of my questionnaire was to find out what people of different ages and gender like and whether there was a similarity between this. I then hoped to find out what my target audience expected and would like to see in a music magazine, which would help me when producing my own product.
There we versions that I didn’t feel were appropriate as the questions I asked could have been personal details which people may like to share. However, the newly improved questionnaire answers questions that will help when completing the front cover and inside of the magazine making people buy my product.
When creating my first and last drafts I also considered the wording of questions. I felt that the questions should be simple therefore the participant can answer quickly and this is not time consuming like an interview.
It takes a lot of time putting together an appropriate questionnaire because although my magazine is going to be at a specific target audience my questionnaire is still targeted at all ages to give me a basic idea of what everyone likes. I had to make sure the questions asked, layout and the response choices suited a wide range of people, all ages and both genders. When adding response boxes I needed to make sure there were suitable boxes therefore everyone will be able to answer. In my questionnaire I gave several boxes with ideas and then added an ‘other’ box in case some people felt differently.
When completing my questionnaire I made sure it was well presented with both good structure and layout. This makes the questionnaire look more formal and professional therefore people are going to take it more serious.
All of the above make a good questionnaire that should give well-answered questions giving me an insight on what my target audience like to see when buying a magazine. I will then take this into consideration when producing my final product.
I asked 100 people to complete my questionnaire of both different ages and genders which helped me to find out a lot about what people expect to see on a music magazine. One thing I felt that surprised me was how much people would be willing to pay for a magazine. I thought that people would rather buy a cheaper magazine however a higher percentage said they would choose an expensive magazine as it is more likely to be at a higher standard.
I have shown some of my results that I found interesting and more important than others by using bar graphs, some which are below.
The results from this question made a huge impact on the magazine. The biggest percentage was for ‘Other’ therefore in my interview I asked a question involving genre that gave me the result that ‘Indie’ was a popular choice for genre of a music magazine.
Would you rather a band be on the front cover or a solo artist?
This question affected the main image on my front cover. There was a huge difference in the percentage therefore my immediate response was to take images of a band for my front cover image.
Do you feel that the colour scheme/imagery would effect you decision when buying the product
After collecting the results I realised how important the presentation of my own product is. When creating my music magazine I will take into consideration the results because I understand the colour and imagery is more likely to affect whether the audience buy it or not.
Interview
Please answer the questions with detailed answers below.
1. Do you think the presentation of the magazine effects whether you will purchase the magazine? Please explain the reasons for your answer.
2. What interests you in a music magazine? Please explain the reasons for your answer.
3. What are your views on music magazine? Please explain the reasons for your answer.
4. Do you often buy music magazine? Please expand on your answer (explaining how often and why).
5. What genre of music do you most like to get involved with?
6. Do you think that an element of interactivity will attract a wider audience?
7. Do you fill that we would attract you personally more if we created a formal or informal front cover?
8. Do you think the price range of my product would influence your decision to purchase it?
9. In your personal preference would you like to read about main stream artist or undiscovered talent? Please explain clearly.
10. Do you think the choice of advertisement will depend on whether you buy the magazine?
11. I hope that word of mouth will create hype for our magazine. Do you think this achievable?
12. If my magazine was professional on Television possibly using celebrities. Would this give you more of a reason to buy it?
Analysing My Interview
Purpose:
The purpose of my interview was to get more detailed answers on a one to one basis, rather than the general belief answers you receive in a questionnaire. I feel that it helped me greatly as it has given me a wide variety to work rather than the structured answers you would receive from a questionnaire.
First and last drafts:
I completed several drafts as I feel the more times you try at something the better it will become. Each time I looked at the original interview I would change certain things making it better and more professional each time. Throughout I changed the presentation and the wording of questions making it more presentable.
I changed the wording of questions several times; each time making sure it fit the interview criteria. An interview should have longer questions giving the participant chance to give a well-detailed answer that will help when creating my music magazine.
Style, response choices and the layout:
My interview took a lot of time as I wanted to make sure the questions were appropriate and that I would receive the best outcome possible. The aim of a questionnaire it to receive answers involving participants opinions. However, an interview is to give me a better understanding of what the audience would like to see and what would make them purchase it. In this case, they can explain their answers giving reasons for their decisions.
Whilst completing my interview I had to make sure the questions I was asking would give the answers I was looking to receive. However, presentation is a key factor as people are more likely to take it serious and give better answers if the interview looks professional.
I feel that the best resources when completing my magazine were from my interview. It gave me an insight of what genre people were more interested in and what they expect to see which helped me overall. Several of the information I found out was interesting and I believe the questions I asked were well used.
Writing Up Audience Research
I have researched a lot of information, some of which is above. All of my research will contribute to my final piece in different ways. The audience research gave me a wide variety of what people like as well as the questionnaire giving me a general idea. However, I found the interview very helpful as it was a one to one that allowed me to receive detailed answers.
In conclusion, I have decided to aim my music magazine at both lower and middle aged, male and females. This is because I feel an ‘Indie’ based magazine will interest both genders around the ages of 16 up to late 20’s. However, although I am aiming it at a specific subjective it is likely that their will be the limitation of people who also enjoy this even though they are not in categories of which I have targeted it at.
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