Question 5How did you attract/address

your audience?

  I have ensured that my magazine is suitable for the intended target audience of the magazine. I did this by ensuring that I listened and applied the findings of my focus group where I interviewed three members of my target audience and asked them questions based on the existing pop magazines We Love Pop and Top of the Pops. This allowed me to grasp an understanding about what the readership of my magazine would be looking for in a pop magazine. By carrying out the focus group, I discovered what colours I could use on my magazine to appeal to the target audience. I was also able to clarify with the target audience representatives the worries that I had. I was assured that the length of an article would not turn away the target audience as long as the double page spread itself had interesting layout features and plenty of visuals.

There are features in the magazine that would appeal to the personality of the target audience. For example, on the contents page, as well as highlighting one of the favourite colours of the target audience, the target audience’s interest in shopping and fashion is emphasised by ‘Poppin’s Pink Winter Collection’. My magazine is also suitable for my target audience as it offers the band Candy Floss on the front cover, contents page and double page spread as a sort of fashion idol, just like Jessie J or Little Mix.

The actual content in the magazine is another way of drawing in the target audience. The choice of artists on the front cover, for example, will draw in a large target audience. The same can be said for the sell lines. ‘Maynard’s bromance with Biebs’ is a sell line that would draw in a large target audience as young girls would like the idea of their home-grown pop artist Conor Maynard being best friends with a worldwide pop sensation like Justin Bieber. A-List artists like One Direction and Katy Perry featuring on the contents page will also make the target audience want to flick straight to the page that the articles are on. Also, as I clearly established in my pre-production research, the use of bright and vibrant colours is what the target audience will initially notice. Using colours that the target audience like, such as pink, yellow and blue, makes the target audience sub-consciously have a positive opinion of the magazine before actually reading any of the content.

Blumler and Katz established five benefits that they said media can provide the audience with. They propose that these benefits will serve a positive purpose in the audience’s lives and will satisfy their needs. One of these benefits is information and education. The article about ‘Taylor’s love exclusive’, for example, would inform and educate the audience about Taylor Swift’s love life, as would all other gossip stories in the magazine. Gossip articles and humorous articles such as ‘Union J’s diva demands’ would also provide the benefit of entertainment for the audience. My music magazine will also provide the audience with the opportunity for social interaction as a lot of girls in the target audience would talk about the content in the magazine with their friends, causing Poppin’ to be subject to a lot of conversation, which will then attract a wider target audience and increase readership figures. The audience are also presented with the opportunity to identify with others in my magazine in the article where Little Mix solve the problems of the audience members. The audience is able to read about problems which they themselves may have faced or be facing and be able to sympathise with this other person and relate to them. My magazine will also allow the audience to experience escapism. This means the target audience of my magazine can read the articles and completely forget about everything in order to get away from everything else that may be happening in their lives.