To Do List for the coming brief.

I have been assigned to write a big list of all of the things i need to do for my year brief. I will try to add to it, and cross things off when they are completed. I have had to separate the list into the three sections of the brief that i have to do:

 Newspaper

• Research different articles from local newspapers to find out what the two main pages include - adverts? Articles? Advice page?
• Research the target audience for a local newspaper, and research it fro there. This will help me if my target audience is the same as theirs. 
• Research what most articles subjects are. As i have to write these articles and they don't actually have to be real stories, it still has to be realistically written and presented so i need to find out a realistic story.
• Research what adverts are normally seen in the two pages.
• Define on my blog that i am planning to do the front page and the next page after that.
• Research photos that are in newspapers and what a picture can do for the article and the person in question. What does the photo represent/mean/consider/suggest?
• Take photos for my article as they are normally of most articles.
• Find out the general/average amount of articles on the two first pages of a local newspaper (there are normally columns of them beside the big headline.
• Research and define the typography i am planning to use for my newspaper.
• Research and define what the layout and presentation will be like and how it would advantage my target audience.
• How much information is told in a headline? Research headlines and their play on words.

State how EVERYTHING will advantage or disadvantage my target audience on every post!!!

Radio Advertisement

• Try to find copies/recordings from other newspapers and local newspapers.
• Make comparisons between local newspaper ads and national newspaper ads if possible.
• Find out about the technologies that i will have to use in order to record a voice.
• Research what is said during a radio newspaper ad.
• Research how long the adverts usually are - so my target audience wont get bored and turn over.
• Is it usually a man or a woman on a newspaper radio advertisement?
• What is the script like for other newspaper radio ads - what is the lingo like - everyday, educated.
• Find out how recording a voice and putting it on the radio is done in the professional/real world.

State how EVERYTHING will affect my target audience on every post. Will they like it?

Newspaper Poster

• Am i planning to advertise the newspaper as a whole, or just the headline?
• Look around the city of Norwich (take photos also) and see where some posters are. How are they presented.
• Do the newspapers control where the posters are, and who puts them up?
• Do they make any influence on people to buy a newspaper if they see the poster? Does a poster create more sell?
• Where are the posters seen?
• Explore the typography and format of the newspaper posters.
• How will i make the poster - via photoshop, using glue and scissors?
• How long are posters usually up on show for?

State how EVERYTHING can influence my target audience to buy the newspaper on every post!

E-mail reply back from Radio Norwich about audience demographics.

A few days ago, i sent an e-mail to Radio Norwich asking about the demographics of their target audiences, and result! I got an e-mail back! Here is a copy of the e-mail i was sent:

I'm sure that if it cant be read, then you could just click on it and get an enlarged picture. I have taken into account that their audience is not really what I'm aiming for. Their average listener is mainly female, whereas i would prefer both genders - i have kept in mind though that it will not be exactly symmetrical between both genders. There are 51,000 listeners tuning in on a weekly basis which is the sort of audience I'm expecting.

Hopefully i get a reply back from the third and final radio station - BBC Radio Norfolk very soon!

Facebook Questionnaire.

I have decided to do a facebook online version of the first draft of my questionnaire. Even though i cannot get feedback about the structure of the questionnaire itself, i can get a rough idea of what people's views are about newspapers. The questions are exactly the same as the printed-off version.

There are some advantages and disadvantages with using online polls and questionnaires:

Advantages:

- Easy and quicker to answer and analyse.
- The layout is more formal, like a real, professional questionnaire.

Disadvantages:

- I am not getting a wide range of people. I am getting people who only go on facebook.
- These people are my friends so they may be less likely to tell the complete truth.

Here are some print-screens of me making the questionnaire:

Overall, it was a very easy app to use as it guided you through everything. Once i get the results, they will be uploaded in a post!

The Results

After a few days of sending out my poll via Facebook, i got 6 participants' questionnaires back. I sent out around 12 of them. But i think that realistically not everyone is going to reply. I have also kept in mind that i have limited myself with the answers back as the participants are people who obviously know technology and are my friends. Here is the link to the questions and answers of my poll.

http://apps.facebook.com/my-polls/view/9xu9jub3

Analysis:

• I found that nobody i asked bought a newspaper themselves.
• The people i asked preferred national, tabloid papers.
• Everybody i asked would buy a newspaper solely based on the headline.
• Most of the people i asked walked to school or work listened to the radio on the way there.

Overall

The people i asked were all of the same ethnicity and age range, i didn't know this specifically, but this made my results very straight forward and predictable, and probably not reliable.
The results do not support my aim of my market of 'educated adults'.

Questionnaire Results and Analysis

I need to analyse my questionnaire results, so i decided im going to create a powerpoint which i then put on slideshare to then put on this post. This is only the results and analysis of the printed questionnaire i did and handed out, not my Facebook questionnaire. Here is the powerpoint:

Questionnaire Results Charts and Analysis

View more presentations from osmithas.

Overall, from my research analysis i have decided that i am going to stay with my idea of aiming towards 'educated adults', as i believe that this isnt common in local newspapers as they try to aim to the normal, everyday person, but i want to create something new and different with my newspaper but still keep some tradition - in order to hook the more mature audience. I found that older people do like to keep some tradition but are interested in what is new because as they have their careers just about sorted, can afford modern technologies.

I dont really need to write a conclusion as i wrote about what i found out about males and females and their interestions with radio, newspapers and posters at the end of my powerpoint.

Questionnaire: Draft 1.

Here is the first version of my questionnaire to find out the demographics and information about my target audience. This questionnaire will help me to determine who i should aim my newspaper, the radio ad and the poster at in order to gain the biggest and most secure market. It will help me to find out things like when my target audience are most likely to listen to the radio and where they would most likely buy a newspaper. I am handing the questionnaire out to everybody, no matter what characteristics they have to make sure i have made the right desition aiming at educated adults:

 When i have had all of the 16 questionnaires filled out, i will make them into charts and general data.

There are already some improvements i have to make to it before i have even had anybody fill it out:

- I could ask what section of the newspaper most people read. E.g: sports, general, politics, entertainment, puzzles etc.

- I should ask if they have any children!

- When i say "go to school, i should say if the adults have to take their children to school etc.

Planning my questionnaire lesson 27/09/2011.

I have to make a questionnaire to give out to people so i can find out about my target audience. Firstly though, i have to do some planning.

In the design of the questionnaire, there are two types of data i need:

• Qualitative - Quality based
• Quantitative - Quantity based

I have some experience with these two terms as i did sociology for a year. I made a short slide show on quantitative and qualitative data. There needs to be a balance between both datas:

ss_9447448"> href="http://www.slideshare.net/osmithas/qualitative-9447448" title="Qualitative" target="_blank">Qualitative <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/9447448" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no">iframe>

View more href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations from href="http://www.slideshare.net/osmithas" target="_blank">osmithas

I am planning to do a few drafts of the questionnaires so that people can write some improvement notes on it. I am not only going to give the questionnaire to my target audience as this would mean i am narrowing the possibilities - this questionnaire is to find out my target audience. I will also ask people outside school as well as inside - to broaden my horizons.

What defines an 'educated person'?

My target audience is educated adults, however, i am struggling to put it into words what being educated means. Does it means you've completed A-levels, GCSEs, Degree? I have found a few definitions of the word:
http://www.wikipedia.com/ - Education (also called learning, teaching or schooling) in the general sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character, or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills, and values from one generation to another.

Dictionary -

1. Having an education, especially one above the average.

2.
a. Showing evidence of schooling, training, or experience.
b. Having or exhibiting cultivation; cultured

3.Based on a certain amount of experience or factual knowledge.

Another dictionary -

1. having undergone education: educated people.

2. characterised by or displaying qualities of culture and learning.

3. based on some information or experience.




I was given the link of a file which helps me to uncover the type of lifestyle or 'Sybols of Success' that an educated individual has.Looking at this fgile, I can see that my target market would fit into the group 2 - happy families. I would like to make this more specific but the types of groups coming off this main group 2 could all be suitable for the newspaper I want to create. Eventhough they are slightly different with the way they live that are all quite well off financially, have nice houses and live around city areas and most commonly they are all families. Here is the link i was given which states the groups:

http://www.herefordshire.gov.uk/docs/business/mosaic_groups_and_types_key.pdf

Overall
Through research, i have learnt that being educated isn't just about the extent of schooling a person has has, it also includes their knowledge, experience, and the values they have. Stereotypically, more middle class people have these factors. As i havent decided what my newspaper will include, i have to make sure that it is intelligent but not patronising.