INTRODUCTION :: Business Management Studies

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The importance of Magazines: Magazines are a major source of communication and entertainment in Australia today. Any newsagent will have racks showing hundreds of different titles. Magazines cater for special interests and give more recent information than books. They usually have interesting pictures and graphics making them easier to read. Because they are popular, they make good profits for publishers, through sales, advertising and market links. 1.2 Aim of this report The aim of this report is to show how magazines are constructed to sell to their target audience, particularly the ways in which a magazine might interest a particular reader. 2. WHICH MAGAZINES APPEAL TO TEENAGERS? 6 Magazines read by teenagers: Magazine Title Gender Target Price Frequency of Publication New Idea GRAPH 3. HOW TO MAGAZINES APPEAL TO TARGET AUDIENCES: 3.1 Definition of Target Audience: Target Audience: The target audience is the group of people the communicator wants to reach with a message. For example, this is the specific group of people which the publishers hope will buy and read the magazine. It is described by the way it fits into these categories: *Gender *Occupation *Age *Education Level *Interests *Income Magazines use these features to target or aim directly at their group: *Title *Language Used *Cover *Types of Articles *Layout and Appearance *Advertising Text Box: My report will be focusing on the teenage/female target audience of girls age thirteen to seventeen. Suppose we look at the magazine Cosmopolitan. It targets an audience of young women and mature teenage girls, who are sexy and intimate, with a real passion for life. The magazine targets this audience by helping contemporary women to achieve their goals, and live fuller, more glamorous lives. Monthly features include beauty tips, solutions on how to deal with boyfriends or spouses, career problems, and ideas on how to alleviate stress, these all appeal to the target audience. Apart from target audiences, there is also a thing called a fringe audience. This can be defined as an audience that is occasionally attracted to something. Example a cooking magazine may attract buyers of all different ages, but because of the interest that they all enjoy cooking. However, if someone was having a party, they might buy this magazine once, just for a recipe, not because they are a cook. Hence, this is a fringe audience. 3.2 Front Cover Appeal: Covers are designed to attract buyers. Text Box: About Cosmogirl!: CosmoGirl is a magazine for real girls with real issues — guys, beauty, fashion, money, parents, school,