Target Audience Research

Target Audience Research

In consideration of the fact that my college magazine will be distributed in college, the primary target audience will be students who attend Bodmin College aged 11-19, as this is the age range of the school.   Rather than the current college magazine, which does not contain specific conventions to appeal the correct audience, I will ensure the cover and contents page is appealing to the target audience, portraying what their interests are through cover stories and take into consideration the answers from SurveyMonkey. As the college is full of both sexes, my magazine will not be biased towards one gender. This widens my audience. I believe that my target audience will be interested in stories that convey what is currently occurring within the college, which is the reasoning as to why I will incorporate these particular questions. They would also like to find out about any changes within the school, such as extra funding in certain departments and what it will be spent on. Other aspects of the magazine which should be strong to attract the correct audience are photos and information for relevant events that the students could attend. A lot of people will be attracted to the magazine if it involves themselves or their friends, as they will, naturally, want to see themselves. The secondary target audience is the parents/guardians of the students, ranging from audience demographic C1 to E. The students will bring the magazines home to show their parents/guardians. They will be interested in what is occurring at the school their child is attending, and what events they are getting involved in, or potentially could be. This particular audience are more likely to be interested in the changing direction of the college itself and what their child's education is like, rather than the student itself being interested in this subject.

More males than female took this survey, which is likely to have affected the results, as males and females have different interests and look for different things when it comes to magazines. Though there seems to be more males, I will still make sure my magazine is not biased, but if it is more significant in the college, then my magazine will have to be slightly biased to ensure it is appealing to the target audience.

The predominant age of the audience who took this survey is 16-19, in fact this is the only age of the students, but was expected. I wanted to survey sixth formers rather than younger students, as sixth formers are the largest age group who are very reluctant to indulge in the task of reading the college magazine, and I wanted to know why this was. Also, if I can solve the problems that the magazine has, which is unattractive to sixth formers, then I can successfully ensure that sixth formers will read the magazine, and the younger students will look up to the older students and read it themselves, as sixth formers are role models. 

Not one of the people who took my survey from this age range claimed to actually read the current school magazine, which supports my previous reason for surveying sixth formers to find out why they do not like it. They must not like it because it is unappealing and does not cater to their needs as an audience. Therefore, when I produce the magazine, I will have to ensure it is appealing to them and consists of articles with relevance to the school and interesting subjects that will attract the target audience.

From looking at the results for this question, I realised that the target audience do not believe that the magazine is at all interesting, and that the colour palette should not consist of colours of which clash. Also, they think that the current college magazine does not have a professional appearance, and so I must change this opinion of theirs by creating a magazine that has a professional appearance, interesting articles, and a limited colour palette which does not consist of colours that clash.

On asking what the audience would like to see in the college magazine, it was revealed that they seek interesting articles that they can read. From this, I discovered that the students feel as though the college magazine needs articles that are appealing and interest the particular age range. These will also need to be interesting for the other ages in the in college, to be successful throughout.

Every one of these options has been chosen by at least one person. The most popular option is 'images of students'. The current magazine includes images of students, but in context with the question, the audience feel as though the images located on the front page each term should be different. I will make sure that the images I use are appealing, and of students, but entirely different to the ones used in the magazine currently. The other relevant answer was interesting topics, something of which seems to be present in the majority of answers, so I must ensure that I am successful in including interesting topics on the cover and contents page of my magazine.

The most popular answer for this question, is information. This suggests that the readers would rather the college magazine contain information, rather than entertainment or socialisation. Going against my initial thoughts on what the audience want from the magazine, this has changed what I feel as though I should incorporate into the magazine. Though, entertainment is also popular, so I should convey the information located on the cover and contents page in an entertaining way.

Only one out of eight people would be prepared to pay for the current magazine, which tells me that Bodmin College Magazine does not make use of common conventions which are almost mandatory to ensure success. To make my magazine successful, I will incorporate these conventions. 

Two out of six people agree that the college magazine is appealing, though no one at all who took the survey reads it. This connotes that magazines do not need to be solely appealing to invite an audience, but consist of interesting topics and use the appropriate vocabulary in order to attract the specifically chosen target audience.