Essay Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Transcript:
When thinking about attracting my target audience, I had to consider what my ideal reader would want to read, and how they would like their favourite magazine to be represented. I decided to create a multi-gender colour scheme. I used colours such as red, black and white, which would appeal to both males and females. These colours also represent my genre perfectly and the contrast between the red, black and white work well.
The images I have included would also attract my target audience. My front cover is aimed at females because of the use of a female model, which I think is very effective because it works very well for other magazine such as NME and Q. I have included images of other artists to make my magazine have variety and I think my audience would appreciate this.
I have used buttons and large sell lines to attract the reader to find out what else is in the magazine, and I also included a quote from my main article which I think will make them want to read the rest of the feature.
Also, I have included features and content that I believe will appeal to my audience. Even when creating my front cover I included sell lines that I believe would attract my audience. For example, one of my sell lines is 'TOP 10 GIGS' which I believe would attract my audience, because I think my audience would attend various festivals and gigs frequently, and will want to find out information about them. Also, on the front cover I have included lots of names of bands and artists I believe my target audience would be very interested in, and listen to a lot. These sell lines will gain interest from the reader and therefore make them want to buy it.
I wanted the content of the magazine to really interest the reader, therefore I was very cautious when naming the pages of my magazine. I included an Album of the Year feature and Best Newcomers feature which I think my audience will really enjoy and be attracted to because as I have said, my readers will read the magazine as escapism and for enjoyment, but also to gain more knowledge about the music world.
When writing my article and all my sell lines, I tried to create a style of writing that would attract my target audience as well. I made sure my writing was not too serious, and would make the reader feel like they are having a conversation with the writer, rather than just being told information. However I did want the writing to still be sophisticated and well-informed, so that the readers felt like they were actually gaining knowledge about what is happening in the music industry.
I have also taken advantage of the popularity of social media and social networking sites. On my contents page I have included alternative ways for my audience to get access to the magazine. I have included a website and twitter account and also, ways to find our Facebook page. Since my target audience are young adults, it's likely that they will use the internet on a daily basis, which means that presenting them with ways they can gain more information about indie/rock music will appeal to them greatly.
I think all of these strategies will help me when attracting my audience because I have carefully considered my target audience when going through each step of creating my magazine.