Slide 06- How does your magazine attract your audience?

When creating my magazine, I was very much aware of my target market and I was careful that every detail I included to the overall media product justified the wants and needs of my specific audience. As my target market were young 8-12 year old girls, this was my primary focal point for concentration when producing the magazine.


Celebrity Images Using celebrity images was a very valuable method of attracting the audience. I have previously mentioned how my target market could be considered as fame seekers and that they are very much interested in celebrity gossip. The images I will use for this will be a very constructive way of initially attracting my target market. My market group would be very interested in seeing celebrity images as this indicated that there is a story inside the magazine about them. This relates back to the inducement of “celebrity gossip” which my young audience find so appealing. The extensity of a young girl’s passion to feel superior and “in the know” is what my magazine will play off of. I will give off the sense that if you buy this magazine you are finding out exclusive secrets about their favourite stars. This is where celebrity images play a big part of attracting my audience. The images instantly imply a story and this story will indicate the elite opportunity to find out something abstract and one off. The images of celebrities are what primarily draw you to the magazine and this is what captures the audience. The images are often suggestive and this also implies what is entailed in the magazine. Images are also usually very prominent and unequivocal and stand out on shelves. The images were what I felt would immediately attract and draw the audience to. This is why this was a very common feature of my front cover. My target market are young, and so I feel to overwhelm them with text would be futile, they are known for their short attention span and so vast amounts of text would not attract their attention. It would be above their abilities and would not have the interesting and fun factor which I prided my magazine on. My target market would not be interested in reading extensively; images are what capture their attention and this is why I featured many “celebrity” images on my cover. However as photography had to be taken by me, the people featured are not actually celebrities.
Exclusives Using exclusives also played on the “secretive” and “one off” factor. It intensified the feeling that the reader was being let into something special that only they would know and created an irresistible impact on them. I wrote the word “exclusive” across the middle page so as to pull the target market to the magazine. This inducement allows tem to feel special and claim the superiority that all young girls seek in life. They are being put on a pedestal and it allows them to feel as though they have been chosen to find out this enigmatic information which is exclusively for them. It creates an illusion that they have been selected and they will find out something unknown if they buy this magazine. It makes the idea of buying the magazine irresistible and this concludes in sales. My target market would be attracted to the idea of an “exclusive” as they are stereotypically interested in fame. It would allow them to feel closer to the celebrity they are reading about and in term allow them to develop a personal relationship with this character. This evolves from the idea that young girls share secrets as a way of bonding and building relationships with a person you trust. To say that you have an exclusive with a celebrity allows the reader to connect with the star and feel as though they are building this relationship. This is another very useful way which I used to attract my audience.
Competitions Another way of attracting my audience was to offer competitions which allowed them to get involved with the magazine and feel as though they were part of the establishment. It gratifies the readers needs also as they will feel that there is the opportunity to get something back from the magazine after they have bought it. It will allow them to feel fulfilment from the magazine and will reassure them when questioning the sufficiency of the magazine. As there is the opportunity for them to win something they will would be intrigued and become devoted to these competitions. It will also be a fundamental reason for the readers to adhere to buying the magazine and this will keep the consistency of sales within my market sector. Seeing a competition on the cover of a magazine that interests a potential buyer may also encourage them to buy the magazine spontaneously. This could influence an impulse buy and this could also consequently grab new regular buyers. If somebody was to buy this magazine on impulse for the competition and found that what they read, they had enjoyed, and proceeded to buy the magazine continuously this would be a competent inducement.
Bright Colours My magazine makes use of bright colours to attract the young mind. Young girls are often associated with the colour pink as it is known as a feministic colour. Therefore I decided to incorporate this colour extensively in my magazine. The bright eye catching colours of blue, pink and yellow which I used throughout to create a dominant house style contrasted against each other to create a magazine which was extremely eye catching. The colours stood out against the white background and this was incredibly conspicuous. The magazines colour scheme was striking and this is how I used colour to attract my audience. Young minds need to be kept active and I felt bright fascinating colours was a good way to keep the attention of my audience. The younger generation are all fun seekers and I feel the colour scheme of my magazine reflected this well, converse to dark vapid colours which suggest the contrary. The “girly” colours which I used were evidently an unequivocal reflection of how we stereotypically view young girls today. When we think of girls, we are immediately associated with the colour pink, as opposed to boys who we associate with a darker shade of blue or green. It has become a tradition and something which we have implemented as a ritual within our society. This is why I used pink as my primary shade to set the theme for my magazine and instantly establish the gender of my target market. I also feel that the colour I used also reflected the genre of music that my magazine represents. Pop music is often associate with females rather than males and this draws us back to the colour differentiation we use to distinguish between genders.
Extracts As you can see extracts from inside the magazine are featured on the cover in order to attract and persuade my audience. This technique was used to give my potential readers a taste of what was inside and allow them to get an idea of what they would find out from buying the magazine. The extract summarises the content of the interview and allows the reader the opportunity to get an idea of what field the magazine places itself within. In order to attract my audience the extracts have to be tempting to them and they also have to be something they would wish to know more on the matter of. On my cover page a quotation states “snubbed by Jemma Sparkles” which falls back to the need for that all important gossip which allows them to feel superior and “in the know”. My target market would feel entirely convinced by the extract which has persuaded them to read the article and would consequently result in that person buying the magazine. Quotes from inside the magazine is a very widely used resource of persuasion and I feel I have incorporated this well in order to appeal to my specific audience. Extracts are used as a preview of what is inside and this sample will have an impact on the reader that they must know more. I believe it is a very good way to attract my audience.