Please see below a screencastify answering question 2.
Transcript for Screencastify Video
Introduce your magazine, name, genre…
My magazine is called Elation and is an indie-pop magazine.
Describe your brand values / quote your mission statement?
Elation as a brand aims to produce new uplifting content that creates a space for individuals to grow creatively and form a community with people just like them. The Mission statement reads; Here at Elation, our aim is to create a feel good, fun and artistic magazine that provides opportunities for smaller artists and those who are looking for that ‘break’. We hope to empower and inspire people to be their true selves and be a part of a wider community. We are passionate about the content we create and aspire to do good in the world. If you’re looking for an authentic magazine that keeps you up to date with the latest indie pop music news – then elation is for you.
Who are your target audience?
Elation’s target audience consists of individuals who fall under the psychographic categorisation of young aspirers and reformers who are fun individualists aiming to endorse change. Furthermore, the demographics of the audience are 17-21 year olds females who live in cities that are still involved in the education system.
Why would that audience buy your magazine?
The uses and gratification theory by Blumler and Katz can be used to analyse the decisions I made to engage my audience in four different ways. These are categorised into entertainment, social interaction, personal identity and information.
- Entertainment – My audience can experience entertainment by reading my article on my double page spread that focuses on a success story of an individual reinventing themselves. This allows the reader to escape from everyday life and focus on something positive.
- Social Interaction – As my magazine will be distributed online there will be many forums and comment sections for people to discuss and interact with the wider community providing them with social interaction.
- Personal Identity – My double page spread reinforces a positive message that no matter what happens in life you can always get back on top again. This feel good element aligns with the individual’s morals of never giving up and teaches them to always strive to be a better person. This helps adjust the sense of self in a positive way.
- Information – The headline on the contents page ‘10 tips and tricks to spice up your wardrobe’ provides useful information and a guide on several of the pages to help the individual become a better version of themselves and allows them to improve their life on a practical and emotional level.
AIDA is a marketing strategy that allows you to focus on four key parts of design to draw your audience in and provoke them to buy your product. These four things are attention, interest, desire and action.
- Attention is created in my magazine by eye contact with the star image on the front cover and contents page. This striking connection draws the audience in and makes them want to pick up my magazine.
- Interest is generated by catchy headlines and cover lines on the front page and contents page as they are informative and enticing. Not only this, my target audience would recognise my main cover star’s name and this would entice them to pick up my magazine.
- Desire is created by the chance to win tickets to the hottest festival in the indie-pop genre. As you can only win by buying the magazine and reading it, it is a good way to involve your audience.
- Action is then finally the target audience member buying the magazine.
Who would you want to work with to distribute your magazine?
I would choose the company Hearst to represent my magazine as there is a gap in the market for my music magazine in their company. Not only this, they own many magazines that my audience would also like such as Cosmopolitan and Elle so my magazine would have an even bigger audience as they already have an established following. Not only this, Hearst’s mission is to create premium, purposeful content that helps audiences and partners strive, thrive and get more out of life. This statement complies with my magazine’s ethos and ideology, this is extremely important as I would want to choose a brand to represent my magazine who valued the same morals my magazine did.
What sort of advertiser would you hope to attract?
To understand the type of advertiser I would like to attract I selected two adverts that would appeal to my target audience.
For the first article I chose the Naked Juice brand. I chose this advert because it is bright and colourful and this is appealing to my audience. Not only this, the brand’s ethos complies with my magazine’s mission statement. This brand focuses on bringing the best out of people and allows them to focus on their health. It is readily available in local supermarkets making it accessible to all. My mission statement states ‘we hope to empower and inspire people,’ this quote matches with the Naked Juice ethos due to them wanting to promote a healthier, more active lifestyle – allowing them to be more motivated. It is important to me to have advertisements in my magazine that support my magazines messages and this was why I chose Naked Juice.
For my page 6 advert I chose the brand Ikea. I chose this advert because many of my target audience (18-19 year olds) may be moving into university accommodation or moving out of their parents house. This advert would appeal to them because it is advertising furniture in a unique way, making them more likely to purchase from Ikea. Furthermore, the brand has a minimalistic look that would appeal to my audience.
What strategies do you have for distribution? How will you link your print content with online content? Have specific ideas, examples, stats and facts to back up your proposals.
For the distribution of my magazine I will be focusing on print and digital copies. This is because 44% of readers prefer paper copies and 27% prefer digital. I have decided to have an online distribution as well because when you calculate 27% of 1,083 people that’s almost 293 people. That’s 293 people we would miss out on if we did not publish online. Both print and digital forms of a magazine can work together and are liked by many, meaning that you can grow your audience and profits by publishing both versions of the same magazine with about the same cost – as digital magazines are cheap to produce. This allows you to reach a wider variety of people creating a bigger reach and audience.
To help my magazine survive in the digital age I will use social media to promote the magazine and enforce audience participation and interaction to create a sense of community so that you are getting more out of the magazine when buying it, as these days we lack social interaction with one another.
I think that it is also important to include freebie items with the magazine as this adds a new selling point making the individual want to buy the magazine more. My magazine would include items such as vouchers for the latest health brands, new makeup products such as mascara and lipgloss. This would encourage individuals to buy the magazine in the print form instead of the digital form as you will be getting more for your money.