How did you attract/address your audience?

Before I started making my magazine, I did lots of market research on my target audience. I did a survey to find out their interests to do with music, how much they would be willing to pay and other various questions. Firstly, the main image on my front cover is likely to bring in my audience as either males will identify with the band or females will enjoy reading about it. The names used on the front cover are a mixture of new and established artists. This is good for my target audience as they want to hear about both, not just well known artists. Also the sell lines are what will attract the attention of my audience as my target market enjoy stories like ‘Past year touring’ or ‘Rising to fame’ as they prefer up and coming artists so the new artists will attract them. The mast head is also important as it is InD, which is the style of music my target market listen to and this clever abbreviation of it will catch their eyes. I used the same house style of red black and white to keep it gender neutral, this helps to bring the audience in so they didn’t feel intimidated by any other gender specific colours. My button on the front cover has a Buzz Word, “win”. This is likely to grab the reader’s attention as they will want to buy it if they have the chance to win something for free.

My images all throughout the magazine are either looking straight into the camera or not. The ones that are looking directly into the camera are communicating with the audience and the ones that aren’t, they send the vibe of the interest in the music and not the fame which the audience like. My double page spread also has a large picture across the whole of it, this breaks up all the text allowing the reader have a break so they do not get bored of just text.

In my article, I have an additional feature of an album review, this attracts the audience as they are interested in music as they just bought a music magazine. This additional feature is unique to my magazine and give it a unique selling point which my audience cannot find anywhere else. I also have a unique photo of a concert which I took myself. The addresses the reader as they are interested in concerts and gigs so they see the magazine as more authentic and personal. My magazine is a music magazine, so according to the used and gratification theory (Blumler & Katz 1974), my target market are using my magazine for identifying with valued others. This will make them feel better about themselves and that they can connect with the people in my magazine. They also use my magazine for finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world. They want to know what is going on in the world so read my magazine InD. Also they use my magazine to gain insight into circumstances of others; social empathy. This means they want to use my magazine to find out information about the world around them as they have an interest in what happens in the music industry. The final use for my magazine is for relaxation. InD is to read in your spare time.

The use of social media in my magazine and the internet also makes a connection with the target market as they are young so they are more likely to be online. This means they can interact further with the magazine rather than just reading it. These online interactions include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and a YouTube channel. These are all for the magazine InD which lead to further information about the magazine and information inside. The audience will see this as another unique selling point and be attracted to the magazine.

Overall, my effort to attract the target market and audience has been successful in my opinion, according to my feedback from friends and family, my magazine has many features which draws them in and as they found out more. Also, the pictures and content I used are successful in attracting an audience.