Audience Research Questionnaire

Instead of distributing a questionnaire I have opted for an online forum using msn and have added people in a group conversation and asked a variety of questions regarding their opinions on the music magazine that I intend to make. The reason why I did this instead of a questionnaire was because I believe my audience could be more open and give more comments and feedbacks instead of just clicking on multiple choice questions. As you will see from the questions I asked I have tried not to use multiple choice questions as this may limit their answers and therefore will be a disadvantage on me gaining their true opinions that would help me make a magazine that would accurately appeal to their needs and interests since they are my intended targeted audience.

As I used 'msn group chat' I was unable to gather up 30 different answers and therefore I have gathered up 4 teenage audiences who range between 16-18 of which are two boys and two girls so that the audience questionnaire wouldn't be as bias seeing as there are only 4 people involved. Looking at my results however I believe I have managed to bring together a fair balance of a variety of opinions and views and therefore will help me effectively- supported by the following print screened results.

GENRE

First of all I needed to see what type of music magazine I should make whether it would be rock, hip hop etc. Therefore by establishing the type of music they listen to I would make my chosen genre magazine the one which would deem the most popular within my audience. As they listen to a variety of music it seemed like a wise decision to make a versatile music magazine which consisted of the most popular yet urban genres

MARKET AUDIENCE

With my conclusions and assumptions of the first question I needed to make sure whether my audience would agree with me otherwise it wouldn't make a success and would be a waste and would only appeal to a niche market instead of a larger audience- of which would gurantee this music magazine popular and successful

MASTHEAD

Step two would be to officially create a versatile music magazine therefore the name of the magazine would have to reflect or connote this. Out of all my questions this one needed to be multiple choice as it would reflect my research instead of just making the audience think of one for me. Successfully, the name 'Infectious' seemed as a clear winner which they liked meaning that the name possibly wouldn't put the reader off and would instead attract them

APPEALS/ATTRACTION

Other apart from the masthead there are plenty more aspects which should draw the reader in and therefore I needed to have an appealing main image attached with a main coverline which will anchor the front cover as well as advertise the uniqueness of this magazine with the cover lines outlining what would be featured in it and therefore begs the question of 'why should I buy this magazine in particular'

COLOURS

The colours which will be used would have to be intact with the cover and as specified by my audience shouldn't be too overpowering yet at the same time bright in order to grab the readers attention. Looking at my research on professional front covers I gave my input on whether it should have minimal colours and therefore doesn't ruin the originality of the cover which they also agreed with stating what front covers are successful and why they are which I should consider

 

 BIG ARTIST NAMES

As part of the cover lines I was planning on dropping some names in therefore it would catch the readers attention for having a reason to read this magazine for a certain artist' story for example. I've left this question as an open one so that they could drop in certain names as each have different tastes in music as myself and each other therefore I wanted to see which artists they would look out for. Also as the magazine is versatile it really helped me out that they had particular artists in mind that is popular in their genre and being unknown to people like myself. What also worked with this open question was that it took me by suprise to hear about their responses on a particular artist like 'Tinie Tempah' which contrasted completely with my tastes. 


 

COVER LINES

Of course cover lines would be key on the front cover but also it gave me an idea of what types of topics they would want to read and therefore what I should put into my contents page

MAIN COVER LINE

For my main cover line it would have to be about my new artist who would be my main image and therefore would have to be something interesting for them to read about clearly stated on the front page

INTERESTS IN MUSIC MAGAZINES

Of course this would help me understand my target audience therefore I needed to know why they buy it or why they don't therefore I would have to try and persuade them to with my magazine

THE ART OF PERSUASION

Instead of losing my audience- using their opinions and reasons I would have to match that and provide them a reason- freebies as they claim, in order to get the audience to buy and read the magazine

FREEBIES

To my audience aside from the genre, masthead, main image and coverline, freebies seemed like the key factor or most appealing reason to gain many audiences. Therefore through my results I came to the conclusion that it was vital to include a puff no matter how tacky it may look or if it may tarnish the magazine, that freebies was an important aspect to my audience. Even after the questionnaire was coming to an end the idea of freebies was very popular amongst my audience. Aiming to see what types of freebies they would like, I was given a range of ideas which was a challenge as they have different or unusual tastes, or whether it would be possible to give these out for free as it would diminish the effect of a 'real' magazine.   

BUYING A MAGAZINE

This question would just further negotiate the reason for the magazine to be attractive and unique against the competition of others when buying it in a shop

PAYMENT/AMOUNT

Instead of asking 'how much would you pay for a music magazine' I didn't think this would be an effective strategy as they would say either 'nothing, 50p, £1, £2' which when compared to other music magazines is too unrealistic and they would firmly state that they wouldn't pay for something larger than that. Therefore by asking them the maximum amount they would pay they might consider it as a reasonable amount seeing as proffesional music magazines tends to be quite expensive being £3.99 or more perhaps

 CONTENTS PAGE LAYOUT

A good example of me having this questionnaire as an open forum would be in this case, as one of my audiences asked about the contents page where I assumed that I had enough research and feedback from previous comments so it was good that I took in their questions so that I could get more answers which I would use to my advantage.

IMAGES VS. TEXT

This question was originally intended for my double page spread but it could also help me with my contents page and maybe the front cover. From the results it turns out they would like a balance of the two so that you'll be provided with a mix of the two 
 

DOUBLE PAGE SPREAD LAYOUT

In many of the magazines that I analysed there was a range of different layouts whether the interview flowed into the text like an essay or if it was arranged as a typical interview with the questions followed by the answers underneath. I personally liked the second layout but I needed to take the opinions mainly from my audience who also agreed with me

CONCLUDING COMMENTS

This was just to see if I missed out any vital information that I would need that they might have picked out on or to see if there was anything that they think was something especially important which was of course the freebies.

From this questionnaire I will take all their opinions into account to produce an effective music magazine which will appeal to them- my target audience. Each individual played an important part for my reasearch as they all had different ideas, appeals and opinions which connotes all the different groups of teenagers out there. 

With the two male audiences, 'Tuan' was the type of audience who would be attracted to the aesthetic look of the magazine as well as being a loyal fan of an artist. Whereas 'Lee' was the type of audience who was devoted and dedicated to the music industry.

With the two female audience, 'Nhung' signified the type of audience who goes for the popularity of the music, artist and magazine as a whole, whereas 'Hazel' resembles the audience who has a keen eye and attention to detail regarding the look, the connotations and therefore has the understanding and knowledge of what she thinks makes a successful magazine in a competition.