Survey Monkey/ Target Audience

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 11-18, 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. Because it is a fashion magazine, it will take on stereotypes and have a primary target audience of females, but also welcome a secondary target audience of homosexual males, as they are viewed as people who love fashion, and sometimes it is necessary to generalise and embrace certain stereotypes in order to reach out to a mass audience, rather than a niche one. 

All aspects of the magazine should be strong to attract the correct audience are photos and information that gives them exactly what they want, as there is a lot of competition in the fashion magazine world. To ensure that my magazine caters to the audiences wants and needs, I have put together a survey on SurveyMonky.com, targeting the particular demographic of which I intend on purchasing the magazine. As I have chosen an audience who are around the same age as me, it will be easy for both them to relate to the magazine, and easy for me to find subjects willing to participate in my survey. I have included the questions which are most relevant to my product. 

The majority of people that took my survey were females, which is convenient for me because my primary target audience is females. So I have collected data that is definitely relevant to my product and its audience. I also have a secondary target audience, which is homosexual males, so there is a chance that I could be gaining relevant data in this field as well. 

It is clear to see that my primary target audience of females are going to be from the ages of 16-20, as this has proven the be the majority vote on the survey. It is appropriate because my magazine will be aimed towards students. The only problem with this is the fact that no one who is of the age of a secondary school student has completed the survey, and this age group are part of my target audience, though I would like to aim more towards the sixth form students, as I can directly relate to them and know exactly what they want, as I am one. The age group that has completed the survey is quite narrowed down, so a broader range to cater for all students would be 11-18. This broad age group will be challenging, as I am going to have to cater for such different ages; eleven year olds are about to delve into the world of tweens, and eighteen year olds are almost grown up. 

I was really quite surprised to find this answer when I checked my survey data. This portrays how I directed my survey towards the correct audience that I intend to target my product towards. The fact that these people read fashion magazines means that they are very likely to know what they are talking about within the fashion world, meaning that their feedback and information is reliable and will help me a lot during the process of my products. 

Of course, I had expected that clothing would be one of the main reasons as to why people pick up a fashion magazine, as that is what they are based on. This means that it is necessary to ensure that I incorporate fashion of which is in style, and would appeal to my audience. The main image is also important in attracting my target audience, and I have a passion for photography anyway, so it will both be fun and important for me to complete a photo shoot that is unique and interesting. The articles seem to be the most important thing to the target audience, so I expect they want to know exactly what is going on in the fashion world and want to hear that from my magazine. 

These are a few of the responses that I received. From this, I have gained knowledge in what my target audience really want out of my magazine in terms of articles. They want the latest trends and to be kept up-to-date, rather than be stuck in the same sort of trend for too long. Perhaps they want to know before the rest of Cornwall to appear unique, and as though they are trend-setters.

Personally, I strongly disagree with the sexualisation of women, so I was happy to find out that my target audience were also against it. One answer showed me that my secondary target audience had also been a part of this survey, and finds the sexualisation of women unappealing. As my primary target audience is heterosexual women, who generally wouldn't be impressed with a sexualised woman, as it is something that men find appealing, and homosexual men wouldn't find it attractive, I will not be sexualising my models in the slightest throughout any of the tasks.