How did you attract/address your audience?

I attracted and addressed my audience by using a range of features:

Language: I used a mixture of formal and informal language for my magazine because of my target audience is aged between 15-45 years old. I used a mixture of both informal and formal language but mainly informal language because this is going to grab their attention because it’s the way they speak so they are more likely to read it. I used informal language to make the text less boring for the audience to read. I used slang words in my content page to grab the readers attention because it feels like a person their age is writing it. For example; I used the CMA which stands for Country Music Awards. I used some formal language because of the older people of my target audience have to be attracted to my magazine to get them to read and buy it. This addresses the audience because it a different way to grab their attention.

Masthead /Font: I have used a non-standard font type for my masthead, instead of a standard big bold font; I decided to curve my font so it’s stood out more to my audience and to other magazines. I have used two fonts for my cover, to make the cover more eye-catching for them. I have also used two font colours (red and green) on the front cover which has carried over to my content. I used two different fonts which I thought would stand out best and connote best to country music.

Contents: The articles of my content reflect my research questions which my target audience filled in. They give me what they wanted to see in the magazine, from competitions to albums reviews. This should attract and address my audience very well since the information came straight from them.

Images: The images that I have used in my magazine will help attract my audience to my magazine. For my front cover, I have used one of a country artist who is supposed to be a well-known up and coming artist in the country scene, with a country sunset in the background. These two will draw my audience because the older people will look at how nice the country sunset is and the young people of my audience will look at the artist on the front cover. My front cover image will draw people in because of the artist on the front cover because people who like country

music will know them and will want to read what the article is about. I have used images in my content page and double page spread that will also attract my target audience.

Choice Of Representation: I chose an advert to go after my front cover, which was an advert that advertises an upcoming country festival, I used this because this is a representation of my target audience because they said they go to festivals / gigs / concerts from a monthly to yearly basis.

Layout: I used a simple layout to address my audience, I also did research on other magazines of the same genre of music, they also had a very simple layout. I had the masthead in the centre at the top so my audience can tell it is the masthead. I had the slogan underneath as advised from my audience. I also had my magazine’s website to the top left had side and the date to the top right hand side. I had cover lines, left and right of the main image. I had the main cover line going across the bottom of the image of the artist, to highlight to the target audience that this is the main cover line. I had the price and barcode to the bottom right hand side of the magazine.

Audience: I tried to keep my magazine unisex because the audience is both male and female. For example; I used neutral colours like red and green because they can be either feminine or masculine colours. I have also used different shot types with my images because you need to give the target audience a variety of images to look at so they won’t get bored. I decided the model for my front cover should be a male because then he would attract both genders to my front cover because the girls will like this because the model is attractive and they are more likely to buy my magazine. The males will like this because this artist could be a role model to them and they will buy the magazine to see what they are saying about them.

Research: My research helped me decide what my audience liked and who were my audience. They answered a questionnaire on Survey Monkey and then I analysed that data into graphs, I took information from this to create my audience profile for my magazine. I also got the chance to see what was important to them about what made a magazine appealing to read and to catch their eye. It helped to get information for my articles that would feature on my content page.

I think I have targeted my audience pretty well by listening to their feedback on the needs of a music magazine to create my own magazine.

You can see this process from my 1st draft to my final construction of my double page spread, front cover and content page. I have used researched methods like charts and surveys and other research to help me produce the best possible; front cover, double page spread and content page.