EVALUATION 5 - How did you attract / address your audience?

I used various techniques on my front cover to try and attract my audience, these were mostly things that are included in my audience pleasers post. Audience pleasers are as set of techniques that a magazine will use to persuade an audience to buy their magazine and to maintain that readership. They are things that people like that make them feel good, how people spend their free time, how something is presented to suit their audience and what the magazine thinks the audience wants. 

One of these is direct mode of address which is how the magazine speaks to the reader by the use of colloquial language which is language that is personal to you and also personal pronouns. As my magazine front cover is the first things that the reader will see I used language that would be interesting for the reader to see such as ritzy, collab and stars. All of these words instantly draw the reader in as they tell the reader that the things inside are going to read about and they will have to buy the magazine to see what the stars are, or what the ritzy scam is about and also who the collaboration is going to be with. There is not any personal pronouns which I do think I could add in as then it would make it more engaging however my sell lines would not work with personal pronouns in them. If I had put you're exclusive interview it would work  better however I would then run out of space on my front cover. 

Secondly I put a burst on the front cover which was a free download. Customers love the sense of being given to as they feel as though they are having the magazine for free as they are paying the price of the free item and getting the magazine free. When I interviewed one of my target audience I asked them what draws you in and she said the free download so I know that this defiantly works. If I wanted to put another free item or a competition on the page then I would probably put it on the bottom however I could use this in the next issue as then my readers will buy the magazine again. 

There is information on the page that also engages the audience. I have put tour dates and also the ritzy festival scam on the front cover as they will want to read about them, with this information it acts as news on music and people will want to find about the latest news on the music front. 

The next thing is the 'ritual pleasure of consuming of readers' this is when people subscribe to a magazine, I put this on my contents page as it is where people look for information also it is following the conventions of magazines. 

Another thing was belonging of self definition I didn't want forums on the website as this could be dangerous, but I did want my target audience to feel as though they could talk to other people that is interested in the same music. This is why I have put fan mail as a feature in the magazine this makes it easy to communicate and see what other people are listening to and also what they like and dislike in the current indie music charts. 

So now onto the visual things that attract my target audience. 

Firstly I attracted my readers through the use of a masthead, this is the largest piece of text on the cover, this is really important as the title is the first thing that a reader sees, if they are looking to buy the magazine they will look for the name which is on the top of the page. As it is called En(ore you can instantly relate it to a music magazine as encore is when a artist or band comes back on after they have finished a gig and perform another song. I did use a very different font as it was neither sans serif or serif it was font that looks like a stamp. This could connote its importance. 

The sell lines down the left and right hand side of the magazine also attract the audience. When I was thinking about what to put for my sell lines I knew that I had to include something that is interesting and then I know they will want to buy the magazine and read about this. By including relevant topics for my genre of music magazine will interest them more as they will want to find out about the upcoming indie stars etc. I decided to put the 'exclusive' in a block of white colour so it will stand out and therefore they will know that the sell line underneath is going to be the most important article in my magazine which is my double page spread. In addition I decided to use a burst which was 'free download of the xx' the xx is a massive indie band so that will interest my target audience also it shows the style of genre that my magazine is about as the xx would not be on a country or hip-hop magazine. The use of the burst encourages the reader to buy it and also could make them want to buy another issue. 

Next is the main image that I used these are on all three pages, on my front cover and double page spread it is breaking conventions as my model is not looking directly at the camera so could possibly not engage the reader. However I still believe that it attracts my audience as my model is of a young age and people of the similar age read the magazine. Also the location of the image is very intriguing as it is mysterious and people might like the image as it is very quirky and you can get fashion shoots with images like this that people have as posters. On my front cover I used an image that was a full body shot but my model was bent down so it shows that she is not superior and doesn't show off, on my contents page I have a head shot as that draws the reader in as she is looking directly at them and finally on my double page spread the image in off centre but looking at the article so works well as it makes the article look important.

My colour scheme also attracts my audience as it is simple and is easy to read. The purple, blue, black and white is good as it attracts both male and females. Also when looking at other music magazines they had four colours for example NME have black, red, white and always another colour that goes with the artist. When I use these colours throughout the magazine it shows that it is well designed and also is consistent which would attract the audience as they then know that the magazine is well produced so has some main stars in it. Also blue and purple connote cool and chilled people, I think that the colours are good in this case as it goes with the lifestyle of my target audience.

When you look at my double page spread the pull quote will engage the reader as it will make them want to read the rest of the article. As it is bigger than the rest of the text it makes it one of the first things that they will see, also the font is the same as the masthead of the title of the magazine so it must be important. 

Overall I believe that I have created an engaging magazine that attracts my target audience, as the ways that I have presented certain bits of text is eye-catching so they will want to buy it. 

Below is one of my target audience answering some questions on my magazine about the things that attract her.

So onto the uses and gratification theory.
People buy the magazine to escape real life dramas so it allows their tension to be free. It allows them to get their social integrative needs as they can read it with their family and read about the fan mail which allows them to socialise with other people who enjoy the same music. Another way that this magazine uses the uses and gratification theory is their affective needs as when reading the magazine it could allow their mood to be good as they are reading about something that they like. Lastly it shows their cognitive needs, as they can read about information and news about the indie genre.