2. AIM & PURPOSE
The aim and purpose of conducting my primary research was to allow
me to understand my target audience better. By understanding my target
audience more, I know what needs and wants they have, which will
allow me to alter the design and layout of my magazine accordingly to
these specifications. By doing so, I can guarantee that the magazine I
will create will be appropriate and suitable to the audience I am aiming
my product at, and in the real world, would help to ensure a boost in
sales and revenue. Using audience feedback, I now know what sort of
features people would like to see in my magazine, and what they would
possibly remove or change to make the product more suitable.
3. METHOD
I chose to use a questionnaire and a focus group as part of my primary research
as it allowed me to gain a mixture of both qualitative and quantitative data.
Using a questionnaire allowed me to get mostly quantitative data as I used a
tally method to collect and collate the results. This information will become
very easy for me to evaluate as the results will be visually presented for me to
make comparisons. Conducting a questionnaire was also important for me as it
got me used to randomly asking strangers for information – something which
any professional would have to be used to. Conducting a focus group was also
important for me as I got more qualitative results as the method became more
of a discussion – I noted down any important information or feedback the
group had to give me. Although this particular information cannot be presented
in graph like the rest of the results, I will display the quotes alongside the
corresponding questions/graphs of which I also got my focus group to answer
too.
4. AUDIENCE PROFILING
The results of my questionnaire show that the majority of people were female and aged
between 16 and 18. Although the results show that more women were interested in the
genre and magazine, the number of men was only 10% less, which suggests that even if I
visually create a product aimed more towards women, the actual content should also be
relevant to male customers as there is a chance that both men and women would be
interested in buying the magazine. Half of the people I asked were also students, but at
the same time, a lot of the students I did ask were also in part-time employment, or
currently job-seeking. Combined with the results for the age of my population, this
suggests that my target audience will to some extent have a substantial disposable income
for which they would possibly spend on purchasing magazines.
Age? Gender? Employment Status?
5%
5% 5% 10%
16 - 18 Unemployed
20% 19 - 21 45% Male 35% Student
22 - 25 55% Female Part-Time
70% 26 - 30 50% Full-Time
5. AUDIENCE PROFILING
I needed to know about the hobbies and interests of my target Hobbies & Interests (choose
audience as this will help me to choose the types of features that will two)?
go in my contents listing. The majority of all people that asked 20
18
would consider music and going to concerts as one of their hobbies 16 18
14
– so this clearly suggests that in my magazine, I primarily need to talk 12
10
about a lot of concerts and use proper music-enthusiast terminology 8
6
and language. Aside from music, sports and photography were two 4
2 4 2 2 1 5 2 3 3
popular hobbies/interests, so this shows me that I maybe need to 0
include something relevant to these in the contents page, such as
how a particular band likes to keep healthy, and also use them to plan
and label specific adverts for my flat plan of the magazine.
Looking at the results from these two
Town of Residence? questionnaires, it is clear that the vast majority of
16 my target audience lives in Harlow, but those who
14
12 14 don‟t still make the effort to come to Harlow as
10
8 they live in neighboring towns. This information
6
4 is important to me as it suggests where the best
2 2 1 1 1 1
0 place for my magazine to go on sale is, as many
of my target audience live in, or at least shop
in, Harlow, this is one of the best places for my
product to go on sale.
6. BUYING HABITS
It was important for me to find out about my target audience‟s buying habits as it will help me to come to a conclusion about
the price and the release date of my magazine. From the results, I can see that the majority of people bought magazines on a
monthly basis, which indicates to me that my releasing my magazine every month would make it more popular. As the genre is
very specific, I would be limited with the amount of information I had to put in each issue, so releasing it on a weekly basis
would not be as suitable. I also learnt about how popular music magazines are. The majority answered that they bought at least
1-3 music magazines within 6 months which shows me that people out their would genuinely be interested in buying my
magazine. From looking at the results, I also found that it will be important for me to price my magazine lower than £4.99 for
each issue as this was the average maximum amount people spent on magazines a month. With regards to actually buying the
magazine (this also links in with the town of residence), I also wanted to find out where people
On average, how much do you
bought their magazines. Overall, most people purchase their magazines from either 5%
spend on magazines per
supermarkets or newsagents, indicating that people still like to have physical, hard copies that month?
they can keep. Some people indicated that they bought or read their magazines online, so in £4.99 or less
order to meet these requirements, I can advertise inside my magazine for a digital copy 25%
£5 - £9.99
that consumers can also read online. 70%
£10 - £14.99
5%
On average, how often do you buy or read Where do you get your
magazines? How many music magazines have you magazines from?
5%
bought in the last 6 months? Newsagents
20% 10%
20% 10%
Weekly None Supermarkets
20% 35%
15% 1-3
Biweekly
Subscription
4-6
Monthly Service
55% 50%
55% 7-9
Once every few months Buy online
7. PERSONAL PREFERENCES
These results were particularly important to me as it gave me an idea as to what my target audience looks
for when they are buying other similar/competitor products. By looking at the feedback provided about
four other magazines, I can take these responses and use them to help create a magazine well suited to my
target audience. For example, the majority of respondents said that they liked the look of Q magazine the
most, closely followed by Paste. I can take these two examples of music magazines and use them as
inspiration for my own magazine, as it is clear that there is something about their overall appearance that
draws the attention of my target audience. This led to the following question where I wanted to find out
what in particular it was about the two front covers which drew in their attention. The results showed that it
was the colour scheme which made the front cover more attractive, so I will use this to ensure that I catch
the attention of my target audience. I will also focus a lot on the images/featured artists as this also proved
to be popular within my target audience. What is it that draws your attention to
the chosen magazine?
Which of these magazines do you like 12
the look of the most? 10
8
6
Paste 4
40% 35%
Indie
2
Clash
0
Q Colour Title Font Style Images Featured Other
10%
15% scheme artists
8. MY MAGAZINE – COLOURS &
FEATURES
These results were important to me as they were about the design of What other features would interest you in a new
my magazine. As the last question proved to me that colour scheme indie/indie-rock magazine (choose two)?
was a huge deciding factor for my target audience when it comes to
16
purchasing a magazine, I needed to know what colour scheme the
14
audience would prefer for an indie genre magazine. Overall the 12
results showed that they preferred the green colour scheme, but the 10
red colour scheme was also quite popular. I will go on to make my 8
magazine in these green colours, but I may also consider making 6
4
some of images the red/brown sort of colour in order to match the
2
green colour scheme. The main feature is also a huge deciding factor 0
for the audience – if a magazine has boring articles they won‟t want Upcoming Music charts On tour' with Exclusive Band/artist Games and
to read it. The most popular main feature was a gig review, so I will gigs and the band interviews profiles quizzes
incorporate a lot of information about live music within my festivals and photos
magazine, especially on the front cover. My target audience also If you bought my new indie/indie-rock music
agreed that music charts and information about upcoming live events magazine, what sort of a story would you like to see as
would make interesting articles within my magazine. I will also try to the main feature on the front page?
incorporate the other, less-popular choices such as band profiles and 7
interviews at least in the contents page of my magazine. 6
Which colour scheme do you 5
4
prefer for a new indie/indie-rock
3
magazine?
2
Greens 1
35% 0
50% Blues
Artist interviews Album or single Gig review New/upcoming Story behind the
Reds review artist or band album
15%
9. MY MAGAZINE – BONUS
FEATURES
Freebies, promotions and offers are also great persuasive techniques to use to get to sell a product. In
magazines, the audience is open to a lot of different rewards systems for purchasing the product – free
gifts, discount vouchers, competitions and subscription prizes. In order to make my magazine attractive to
my target audience, it is important for me to get a good combination of prizes and offers. The results of
my questionnaire shows that my target audience would like to see discount codes for concert tickets
promoted on the front cover of my magazine as a way of persuading them to buy the magazine. I also
found that they‟d be more interested in buying a magazine if they had really different and interesting
competitions for them to enter, which also links in with their hobbies/interests which I found out earlier
on in the questionnaire. The three most popular answers were all really creative completions which would
involve and love of drawing and designing. They also liked the idea of offering signed merchandise and
artwork, as well as concert tickets as the main prizes for these competitions.
What freebies and offers would What competitions would
persuade you to buy a new What prizes would you like to see on
you expect to see in a new offer for the suggested competitions?
indie/indie-rock magazine? indie/indie-rock
10 7
8
magazine? 6
Design a t- 5
6 4
20% shirt
4 30% 3
2 Design an 2
album cover
0 1
Free music Sample CD Concert Free Posters 50% Artist/band 0
download ticket wristband inspired Signed Meet+greets Concert Merchandise Albums +
discounts artwork artwork tickets bundle CDs
10. MY MAGAZINE – MUSIC
PREFERENCES
In order to really attract the attention of my target audience, I will need to feature articles about famous
indie/indie-rock artists that they are genuinely interested in. I did some research prior to my questionnaire
and made a list of some of the most popular indie/indie-rock artists at the moment. From this list, my
respondents selected two artists/bands each and the majority of them were selected at least once. The
results showed that artosts such as Mumford and Sons, Florence and the Machine and The Lumineers
were all as popular as each other, but not the most popular so I am likely to use these artists in the contents
page, and then The Script and Ed Sheeran were voted the most popular so I am likely to use these names
on the front page of my magazine to draw in a lot of attention from the audience.
Which indie/indie-rock artists/bands do you like (choose two)?
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Arctic Florence Oasis The Script Ed Sheeran Ellie Mumford Of Scouting Jake Bugg Paloma The The
Monkeys and the Goulding and Sons Monsters For Girls Faith Lumineers Vaccines
Machine and Men
11. MY MAGAZINE – PURCHASING &
RELEASE
How often would you be interested After collating all of the results about preferences to the
in buying a new indie/indie-rock design and content of my magazine, I wanted to know how
magazine like mine? much people would be willing to pay for my magazine based
on the answers they had previously given – I needed the
5% respondents to try and imagine my magazine with the
5%
chosen colour scheme, the artists, prizes etc. I needed to
Wouldn't buy
know this information to allow me to make a reasonable
25% Weekly
Fortnightly
decision about how much I would price my magazine and
65% Monthly how often I would release it.
What price would you expect to
pay for a new indie/indie-rock
The results of my questionnaire showed me that as their was magazine like mine?
a lot of prizes and competitions on offer, it would be more
practical for me to publish the magazine monthly, although 10%
25%
some suggested fortnightly, which would perhaps work if I £2 - £2.99
released a special edition of the magazine. The results also £3 - £3.99
showed me that the majority of people would pay £3-£3.99 £4 - £4.99
for an issue of the magazine, although I may decide to price it 65%
higher depending on the value of the freebies on offer.
12. FOCUS GROUP
•“Consider the fact that a lot of students are in part-time employment, or at least
searching for employment, so they are likely to have a slightly higher disposable income
than you originally thought.”
•“I‟m always listening to music – more so when I‟m enjoying my other hobbies.”
•“Yes, I like to combine a lot of my hobbies together – I enjoy most of the options
available.”
•“If I don‟t buy magazines regularly, then it‟s a case of buying one if I have the money
with me.”
•“I like both Q and Paste magazines – the warm colours are really eye-catching.”
•“I like Q magazine because it‟s the only one I know – the logo/title is very
recognisable.”
•“Blue colours would suit folk/country music more.”
•“Red colours remind me of summer, festivals, hippies etc.”
•“The green colours are very fresh and different for a magazine.”
13. FOCUS GROUP
•“I enjoy going to concerts so if I saw a review of a concert I had been to on the front
cover of a magazine, I would buy it.”
•“I enjoy being the first person to hear about a new artist or band who could be really
big in the future.”
•“Some indie artists put a lot of emotion into their music so the inspiration behind
specific songs or albums would be quite interesting to hear about.”
•“Features like interviews, people profiles and games are very repetitive in magazines.”
•“I think all 3 of the „design‟ competition ideas are really unique and would persuade a
lot of people to enter and buy the magazine in the future.”
•“I like the idea of offering exclusive one-off prizes. Combine the signed artwork with
the merchandise prizes and I would definitely enter e.g. Win a signed guitar which has
been used by a band on stage.”
•“Make it clear of the genre of your magazine – possibly change it to indie-pop/indie-
rock as a lot of these suggested artists are more indie-pop.”
