Evaluation Draft

5.         How did you attract/address your audience?

 Personally I consider my target audience as one of the main focuses of my magazine as this will ensure whether or not my magazine will sell. I used different features within my magazine to attract my audience and made sure I did this successfully by looking back at my survey results to see the certain features and aspects of my magazine that people would like to see. I made sure the people who took part in my survey were as similar to my target audience as possible by getting my friends to take part and also posting it on my twitter. I feel these types of people will have the same if not a fairly similar style to my audience and also listen to the same type of alternative and up to date music.

 As I mentioned in my last question, the model that I used for my cover page and my main article will be a big selling technique for my product. Not only does she persuade males to buy my magazine as she is attractive, she can also be a role model towards females through her style and confident approach. This will therefore cause my audience to buy the magazine, especially if I use quite unique and eye catching images throughout and on the front cover.

One of the features I thought was important to include in my magazine would be reviews. I feel these will play a big role in persuading my audience to go ahead and read the magazine, therefore making readership statistics higher. From reading reviews, my audience will gain a wider knowledge in different bands and artists, perhaps impressing their friends and helping them decide on which specific gigs and festivals to attend. This in particular will help my audience build relationships with their friends and maybe even family as they can go on to tell the opinions and suggestions expressed in the reviews to help them choose which concerts they can all attend plus making the reader feel they are more aware of events taking place within the music industry. This also makes reviews a perfect source of information for my audience.

 On the front cover, my magazine will also contain a list of artists. I feel this is also a great way to persuade my audience to buy my magazine as from my research; my survey results show many people would want this as a sell line. The list of artists presented which will then be included in my magazine gives the reader an exclusive insight to what they may expect. I also believe including a fair amount of different bands will further make the reader more interested as they may see more than one of their favourite artists. However, seeing a particular artist they haven’t heard of may also make them intrigued so therefore make them want to find out more about the musicians they have no yet heard of.

 Competitions will also play a massive role in the selling of my magazine. These will attract and address the audience personally as the type of my prizes that will be on offer in my music magazine will be tickets to a range of festivals. As my target audience enjoy going to festivals and taking part in these types of events, this type of reward will be ideal and many of my readers will enjoy taking part for an opportunity to win. Every time these types of competitions are presented in my magazine, there will always be two of more tickets on offer, meaning they can take their friends who have the same music interest as them along. This can further help build their relationships as they can both attend the festival together.

 Throughout my magazine, I have also included various opportunities for my audience to reach and contact my magazine through the use of new media such as different social networking sites like facebook and twitter. I feel my target audience in particular use these sites on a regular basis therefore attracting my own audience through these will be a successful way of promoting my magazine. On these sites my audience will be able to leave their own comments and opinions as well as find out information about the release and content of the next issue. In terms of the uses and gratifications theory, my magazine’s own facebook page and twitter account will supply my audience with information such as ways to enter competitions, who the next cover star will be and a summary of the next issue. I feel both these sites are also a fantastic way for my audience to interact with my magazine so they feel more involved so overall new media is another way to address my audience personally.

 Moreover, using new media I will also have an own app for my magazine that my target audience will be able to access available on all smart phones and tablets for a small price. This app will allow my audience to read some of the main articles included in my magazine and a small preview of the cover star’s interview. This will therefore persuade my audience to go ahead and buy the magazine themselves if they like what they see. Also in the app, there will be quizzes and competitions for the users to take part in. This will be about the music industry and any current or upcoming bands. This is again an excellent way for my audience to get involved plus challenge them to see if they really know their music. Furthermore if they get a good score, it may make them feel good about themselves – this could act as a persuasive tool, therefore making them buy and read my magazine. I think this will attract my audience as people within their age range will most likely own a smart phone or tablet and will be able to take part in these activities on the app. I also feel my target audience lead pretty busy and hectic schedules so having an app they use while they are travelling or ‘on the go’ is ideal. This app will be mentioned throughout the pages of my magazine to make my audience so my audience are aware.

Overall, mentioning the uses and gratifications theory again, my magazine will attract my audience through personal relationships. This can be by discussing the magazine with people who have the same music interests or indeed attending festivals together when winning competitions. My magazine can also help my audience build their own personal identity as they may feel the music they read about and the style they see presented from the different artist and music bands in my magazine can help them shape themselves. They may aspire to be like these artists and even see them as their role models if they reflect similar values to their own. Through entertainment, my audience may enjoy reading the magazine as it is a way to escape their real life worries temporarily therefore they will continue to buy the magazine to create this type of enjoyment. Information also plays a big role in my magazine as I have already discussed, through reviews and different features that give out lots of detail. This could be gig listings or features about a range of artists.