Market Research

Hi!
This specific post is the main beginning for my magazine task, so for it, I was asked to create a questionnaire so that I could learn the opinions of the people I'm aiming my magazine at. This was a tricky task to do because I needed to learn information from my target audience to form the base of my magazine. From the results I could design a magazine, contents and double page spread that my target audience would enjoy. I already decided before the market research that my magazine will be aimed towards 16-25 years old as it would be the easiest to do since I'm in that age range so I could enforce my ideas as well as receive improvements and new ideas from this age range. Nevertheless I created a questionnaire that asks appropriate and necessary questions that would help me to create my magazine.


Here are the results from the questionnaire:
1. What would attract you to buy a music magazine from a shop?

These results show that stories included is the most popular choice. I'm not surprised that this is the most popular choice because it would have been the choice I would have chosen as well. I believe people picked this choice because the stories are the most interesting part of the magazine as it informs the reader about a specific topic which then the reader can indulge in. This information will help me for my magazine because it'll make me think of what's important within the magazine and what would stories would be the most interesting, and all in all suit my magazine more. 


2. What is your favourite part of a magazine?

These results show that the stories included within the magazine are the most favourite part. However the other choices in comparison to one another look equal which I found intriguing. The choice picked for other was 'what clothes are out and freebies' which I believe is still valid for my research because it's still an opinion. This will help me in the decisions I make for my magazine because it will make me think of what it's important and again what stories to choose as it has been voted as the most important thing readers look out for.


3. What is your favourite genre of music?

I was hoping that the readers would pick R & B/ Hip Hop/ Rap because this was my initial idea so I'm thrilled that it has come up as the most popular choice. It confirmed my suspicions that my target audience would prefer this type of genre because there is so much of it in our society today. This information will help me in the decisions I make for my magazine because I need to focus the magazine on this genre but if this is not possible then maybe I could intertwine Street/Grime or Pop within the magazine so that there is a more variety. The risk of this doing this however is that the genre aim will be become confusing and this could make my magazine task harder to do.


4. How much are you prepared to pay for a music magazine?

This result shows that the most popular choice was '£1.01-£2.99' which is appropriate because this would be the amount I would be prepared to pay for a magazine also. I think this was the most dominated choice because magazines of today are dying out as more and more people are deciding not to buy magazines as the same articles and headlines could be seen on the internet. However if my magazine is to be successful then it would need dedicated fans and so this price range is appropriate because the average teenager gets around £8 worth of pocket money per week. This information will help me in the decisions I will make for my magazine because I need to get the price just right so that not only would the content and cover attract the reader but the price too.


5. Based on the magazines you have ever read what would you want more of in a magazine?
There was a variety of responses to this question, this included:

• Freebies
• Public sent things
• Stories on celebrities and interesting facts
• Important articles such as music culture
• Less advertisements and more stories

However the most popular opinion was to have more freebies within in a magazine. Although it's always a nice touch to have freebies then this would mean that the price for my magazine would have to be increased as if I was actually distributing freebies then I would have to pay for the freebies sold meaning this money would come from the amount of magazines been sold. However I will think about adding freebies to my magazine but then I would have to consider what freebies would suit my age range. The most suitable idea that comes to my mind when distributing freebies would be to give out a free CD that is obviously related to my magazine.

6. What would be the main point that would deter you from buying a magazine?

From this result we can see that price would deter people from buying magazines. 'Celebrities', 'Colours', 'Brand' and 'Other' did not receive any results which I found quite surprising because I thought that certain celebrities would deter people from buying magazine but this research proved otherwise. I believe that price was the most popular because people need money, it's essential to survive everyday life so to use it on a magazine that was a ridiculous amount of money would be waste. This would help me on the final decisions I make for magazine because i need to get the price just right so that people would be attracted to buy the magazine even more.


7. Please list your four best colours below:

From this result we can see that black, blue, red and purple were the four main popular choices. I constructed this question by simply asking them to introduce colours and then calculated them all. The problems I have with these four colours are that they are all dominant and bold so to overcome this problem I may have to change the shades of the colours or choose other colours that are not as dominant such as white which is not bold. This information will help me in the decisions I'll make for my music magazine because it will make me think about where I can place the colours chosen such as the masthead, cover lines, backgrounds etc as I need to get this spot on.


8. Would it be off putting if the magazine included more articles about a specific topic rather than loads of pictures of celebrities?

From this result we can see that the option 'No' in response to this question is the most popular. I believe this answer reflects on question 2 where the 'stories included' was the most common choice. I also believe that people like reading the articles as again they gain information from this that they can either report back to friends, family, colleagues etc or just simply hold for themselves. This information will help me with the decisions I make for my magazine because it will help me to concentrate on the stories that will be featured as the public find this intriguing.


9. Is there anything that you would specifically want the magazine to have or do you feel as if a question hasn't been asked that you would really wanted to answer? If that's the case then please write down you thoughts below:


There was no responses for this question.


What did I learn?
I learnt that market research is extremely useful when finding out about what your target audience want in a magazine because you're getting the information from them directly. I started this challenge with an open mind but I've realised that it is really helpful and it's narrowed down my decisions so now I have a foundation for my magazine. From this information I can also create a reader profile which again would be my reminder of what my readers want in a music magazine.