Post - Research into a potential target audience - secondary

The first steps of this should take only a few minutes.

The whole activity is achievable within one lesson.


PRINT brief

From your research into distributors of similar products use the link to the owner's website.

1. On their site, look for information about their magazine titles. Each owner's site is designed differently, but on BauerMedia's there is a link at the top to Brands (= their magazines and radio stations).
2. Look for your chosen magazine and seek something like a reader profile. This may be a brief paragraph or a sentence describing their average reader. It may be visual as well as verbal. BauerMedia also offer a media pack for download. If you're having trouble, Google (magazine name) + media kit in a web search or try (magazine name) + reader profile in a web search or an image search. See what you can find and copy.
3. In your post "Research into a potential target audience - secondary", copy and paste the URL into your research and the date you accessed it in order to reference the source.
4. Note the title of the magazine, then enter their reader profile in an appropriate format (text, image).

Extend your research:

1. Repeat steps 1-4 above for other music magazines.

The thinking part:

1. Reader profiles are provided by the publishers in order to encourage potential advertisers to buy advertising space in this magazine because its reader profile matches the target market of the potential advertiser. (But it's really handy for media students.) Study how they present their reader profile (bullet points, collage).
2. How would you describe your target audience? Create a reader profile of them.
3. Insert it in the same post.
4. Comment on why you are targeting this group.

VIDEO brief

Tracking down details of the audience of a film.

1. Pearl and Dean sell advertising slots in many UK cinemas. In order to help potential advertisers know who might be in the audience for a new film, their business website gives audience profiles for previous films that are similar to the new releases. Go to http://business.pearlanddean.com/films_guide
2. Look through the current and future releases for a film similar to your chosen genre.
3. Notice how their colour-coding gives a quick guide to who the main target audience is.
4. Click on a likely new film title (or use the Advanced Search facility, select Include Past Releases, and search for a past film), then Grab the Comparable Profile, or the whole of the Film Details. The Profile breaks the likely audience down by key demographics - age, gender, "class" (= socio-economic status). This is one way to define your own target audience.
5. In your post "Research into a potential target audience - secondary", copy and paste the URL and record the date you accessed it in order to reference the source.
6. Name the film you looked up and the comparable film.
7. Insert your Grab image (you'll need to change it to a .jpeg first using Preview or Photoshop).

Extend your research:

1. Repeat steps 2-7 above for other films from your chosen genre.

The thinking part:

1. How would you describe your target audience? 
2. What would be the best way to present your audience profile (bullet points, collage of comparable film posters or stills or title screens)?
3. Create an audience profile for your film.
4. Insert it in the same post.
5. Comment on why you are targeting this group.