Target Audience Research

Target Audience

I went away and interviewed a selection of people that i considered to be my target audience. I have come to the conclusion that i will be aiming my magazine at the 'mainstream' segment of the market.I personally am interested in house/dance music myself, so feel that this is a perfect genre of music for me to pursue as i have a lot of knowledge and background in the genre myself.

Firstly I looked into the types of clothing and outfits that my target audience would wear. This would be a major help and indiction to what to dress my models in for my magazine. I looked at outfits for nights out, and casual day outfits for both summer and winter. I looked at what types of hairstyles people wore, what tops, trousers, jackets people wore and where an for what occasion they would wear that outfit. This way I could ensure that the outfit i use for my models on my magazine would fit ideally in with my target audience.

I wrote up a list of questions to ask my interviewees, which were targeted to withdraw information about their personalities, clothing, hobbies, interests, and musical tastes. I got a similar range of responses which clearly identified that they fit in with the genre of my magazine. 

I then looked into Channel 4's research on social groups using the site
'UK Tribes.' It allowed me to look into more depth about my target audience. 
When looking into the 'Mainstream' segment there were seven clear categories: 

-Blingers

-Boy Racers

-Chavs

-Chavers

-Fan girls

-Townies

-Sports junkies

Despite aiming for the mainstream segment my main two focuses will be around 'townies' and 'chavers.' They are based as the regular kids around the high streets.

'Townies are as mainstream as you can get – it’s the default ‘normal’ Tribe and the core of the British youth population…' Townies simply go with the flow, keeping up to date with the latest celebrity gossip, and who is number one in the chart. They love to drink and live for the weekend and may smoke a little weed but do not experiment with drugs like chavers do. Townies care about their fashion but not as much as Hipsters or Trendies. Often refered to as the 'sheep' of the culture, with no idenitity they simply follow dominant trends, therefore i must insure that my magazine is current and up to date with common trends.

Fuelled by music, drugs and booze, Chavers live for bass and hedonism… 
Chavers live for bass music, live events and casual drugs. Found all across the UK they are the core of the commercial dance music scene. Found pressed up to the speakers, drink in hand, chavers live for a big night out. Chavers are influenced by bass music, making EDM (electronic dance music) very popular within this genre. Due to their overly busy social lives they are huge attenders to Global energy weekender, One Nation, Innovation in the Sun and most of all Creamfields. They usually live to have fun - not get in trouble.

Therefore after concluding through all my research i can conclude my target audience to the segment mainstream. I now know that I need to make sure that my magazine is up to date and fits in with all current trends if I want to optimise all factors to attract my target audience. I have picked my genre to be house/dance, to ensure that again it matches my target audiences preferences. 

Magazine Genre Research

Before planning my magazine I wanted to create some research into my chosen genre (house/dance) to ensure that I got the correct look to match my target audience. I looked into the image on the main cover. The positioning, fonts, colours, direct of gaze etc. This way I can ensure that my magazine fits perfectly within other magazines in my genre.

Potential Music Magazine Titles

I have been thinking about what to name my music magaizne. I concluded to seven final ideas, and am going to ask a survey to people in my target audience of what they most prefer. I have tried to conclude to the seven most appropriate names, that are preferably music related, so that people can make a easily relation.

My Genre: House/Dance

Vibe - Vibe can be used with a lot of genres as you can get all sorts of vibes from different genres of music.

Free - Free can be used with a breakthrough magazine. Free can be associated with a new up comping genre that has just broken 'free' and found a gap in the market.

Volume - Volume is appropriate for all genre's of music as you obviously increase and decrease volume to all types of music, yet it could be most associated to music that is loud and bold oppose to classical.

Replay - The word 'replay' is strongly associated with CD's and music, replay can be used appropriately with all genres yet can work well with hip-hop/pop genre.

Voice - Voice can be appropriate for several genres. It can fit to rap, as most rap's are created using voice however it can also fit pop songs are they are orientated around the lyrics of a song.

Play - Play can be associated with any genre, as you have to 'play' and stop a song when listening to it. |it could probably be most related to dj, or mixing music but is still suitable for a wide range.

Octave - Octave is easily relateable to music as it is a common used term throughout all genres of music. It could be used with all genres yet would probably most suit a more respective genre oppose to rap etc.

Sync - Sync easily links in with my genre of house/dance as sync can be associated with dj's and syncing music. It fits with pop music and meets my target audience of mainstream.