Company SWOT Analysis
Below is a table showing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats related to my company.
Magazine SWOT Analysis
Above is my SWOT analysis for a range of fashion magazines looking at what I think their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats are.
Customer Profile
The target customer for my magazine is visually shown above...
- Female
- Age: 26
- Occupation: Stylist
- Status: Single
- Leisure: shopping, gym, beauty, socialising, holiday's in hot countries
- Lives alone in contemporary apartment, someone who is work focused
- Reads: Vogue, I-D
- Tv: American's next top model
- Interests: photography, fashion
- Aspirations: To buy a house and have a successful career
All of the above describes a typical individual I could see purchasing my magazine. The overall customer will be people who are interested in fashion and photography who buy magazines for inspiration.
My customer market is aged between 20-35, people who are interested in fashion, photography, styling etc, who buy magazines for inspiration. My magazine is in competition with publications such as AnOther magazine and wonderland, magazines that focus on fashion photography and creative medias.
Target Audience Questionnaire
1. What is your gender?
2. Which category below includes your age?
3. Which of the following best describes your occupation?
4. What is your approximate household income?
5. How often do you buy magazines?
6. What types of magazines do you read?
7. What types of articles do you read?
8. What is your favourite kind of television show?
9. Which fashion magazines do you buy?
10. Would you buy a black and white edition of a Vogue magazine?
Below is an analysis of some of the main questions and peoples answers to these which I think are most relevant to my research.
From asking this question I was able to gather information about the types of articles that are most popular, this has given me a bit of insight into the majority of readers preference on articles they choose to read. As we can see lifestyle and celebrities and fashion, art, music and entertainment are on par with each other as the most popular types of articles read. From this I can start to plan possible features that will fit well into my magazine and I know they will be of interest to people.
As we can see from asking people which fashion magazines they buy that its a close call between all four magazines, Vogue has a slight upper hand which is no surprise being the most influential fashion magazine. What these answers tell me is that theres no one particular fashion magazine that sits above all the rest, so this is helpful when it comes to thinking about the style and look of my magazine as they each have their own special appeal and trait they are renowned for, this means finding my own magazine identity within the market.
This question was included within my questionnaire in order to determine whether a black and white publication would appeal to people. As we can see half answered yes they would buy it, just over a quarter said no, and just under a quarter said they are not sure. From this evidence because the majority said yes that gives me a good indication that people would be interested in purchasing a black and white fashion magazine, this is dependant on it being a beautifully put together magazine that benefits from being printed in black and white, as long as its not taking anything away from the publication if it was printed in colour, the idea is that the black and white enhances the images and gives a unique feel.
Conclusion
Overall I am happy with the results my questionnaire has provided me with, if I was to do another questionnaire I would focus on more specific questions, and engage the audience more where they can give feedback and comments on what they think. From this I will continue to progress with my black and white publication.Product Positioning
bi-annual magazines is from £6.96 - £17.15.
From low to high the fashion magazines I have been looking at in order of cost...
Elle £3.60 per month
I-D £3.80 per month
I-D £3.80 per month
Dazed & Confused £3.95 per month
Vogue £4.10 per month
Harper's Bazaar £4.20 per month
Wonderland £5.00 per month
AnOther £6.95 bi-annually
CR Fashion Book £17.15 bi-annually
After analysing the product market and the competitive prices of fashion magazines I think the magazine I am going to produce would fit somewhere between the £5 - £7 mark dependant upon the overall outcome and quality of product, being a bi-annual publication this is my initial estimate.
The 'Seven P Formula' is used to evaluate and reevaluate your business activities which you should use continually to make sure you're on track and achieving the maximum results in todays marketplace. I'm going to reflect upon these 7 ps with regards to my own product I will be producing.
As seen from the product positioning chart above its quite clear where I'm aiming my product to fit within the fashion magazine market. We have the magazine that are issued weekly which include Vogue, Elle and I-D then we have the bi-annual magazines which in this case are AnOther and CR Fashion magazine which as we can see have an obvious big cap within them. However it is clear to me where I am aiming my product to roughly fit within this market and that is possibly just over or under the price of AnOther magazine which sits at £6.95 bi-annually but, this may all change this is dependant on how the production and overall publication turns out.
The promotion of my magazine would be done using the internet to publicise advertisements and have a website for people to go onto and see all the recent news about shoots etc. Advertisements on billboards, buses, signs etc promoting the front cover for people to get familiar with it and ultimately go and buy the magazine. Leaflets can also be a good way to promote when your first starting out with a new product so people become aware, and generally relying on word of mouth as the best source of getting the word out there.
The 7 ps of marketing
The 'Seven P Formula' is used to evaluate and reevaluate your business activities which you should use continually to make sure you're on track and achieving the maximum results in todays marketplace. I'm going to reflect upon these 7 ps with regards to my own product I will be producing.
These 7 ps are:
Product, Price, Promotion, Place, Packaging, Positioning and People.
Product
Product is all about whether your current product or service is appropriate and suitable for the market and the customers of today.
The product I am planning to produce is a limited edition black and white publication. The idea behind this concept is that the magazine itself is a one off issue thats printed in black and white for the month of June which is named after the Roman Goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage and is also said to mean the 'younger ones' which if i decided to I could tie these folklore elements into the issue in a subtle and underlying way if I thought it would be appropriate or beneficial to do so. After researching the market I found a niche which was something I hadn't really taken much thought about, that there are no fashion publication in black and white so I thought this idea would be an interesting one to explore and experiment with.
The product I am planning to produce is a limited edition black and white publication. The idea behind this concept is that the magazine itself is a one off issue thats printed in black and white for the month of June which is named after the Roman Goddess Juno, the goddess of marriage and is also said to mean the 'younger ones' which if i decided to I could tie these folklore elements into the issue in a subtle and underlying way if I thought it would be appropriate or beneficial to do so. After researching the market I found a niche which was something I hadn't really taken much thought about, that there are no fashion publication in black and white so I thought this idea would be an interesting one to explore and experiment with.
The reason it would be a one off edition in black and white is because after doing some primary research through questionnaires I found more people would buy a one off black and white magazine than they would buy each month, and this is purely because it takes that element of colour away so the viewer wouldn't be bale to see the garments in there full colour so its almost taking that element away and keeping it a mystery.
So overall my product will be a one of edition exploring black and white photography with a possible hint of colour where necessary to create the feel and look of the shoot or story I will be aiming for. I feel the main competitor for my product is AnOther magazine because they already publish a lot of black and white images throughout their magazine but, again my product is aimed at telling a different story and giving a completely different feel to this particular magazine so I feel the elements I will be exploring will set me up for a successful publication.
Price
Price is all about examining and reexamining the price of the product you sell to make sure its still appropriate to the realities of the current market.As seen from the product positioning chart above its quite clear where I'm aiming my product to fit within the fashion magazine market. We have the magazine that are issued weekly which include Vogue, Elle and I-D then we have the bi-annual magazines which in this case are AnOther and CR Fashion magazine which as we can see have an obvious big cap within them. However it is clear to me where I am aiming my product to roughly fit within this market and that is possibly just over or under the price of AnOther magazine which sits at £6.95 bi-annually but, this may all change this is dependant on how the production and overall publication turns out.
Promotion
Promotion is all about the way you tell your customers about your product and how you then market and sell that product.The promotion of my magazine would be done using the internet to publicise advertisements and have a website for people to go onto and see all the recent news about shoots etc. Advertisements on billboards, buses, signs etc promoting the front cover for people to get familiar with it and ultimately go and buy the magazine. Leaflets can also be a good way to promote when your first starting out with a new product so people become aware, and generally relying on word of mouth as the best source of getting the word out there.
Place
Places is all about where your product is actually sold.
The types of places I could see my magazine being sold at are the limited off licence shops that sell magazines that are bi-annual or foreign publications which in my experience are mainly only available in the centre of London, and also bigger companies such as Whsmiths who sell a lot of alternative magazines that you don't always see in your regular off licence. Depending on how well the product does theres also the option of selling the publication abroad if you are lucky enough to get to that stage.
The types of places I could see my magazine being sold at are the limited off licence shops that sell magazines that are bi-annual or foreign publications which in my experience are mainly only available in the centre of London, and also bigger companies such as Whsmiths who sell a lot of alternative magazines that you don't always see in your regular off licence. Depending on how well the product does theres also the option of selling the publication abroad if you are lucky enough to get to that stage.
Packaging
Packaging is all about standing back and looking at every visual element on the packaging of your product through the eyes of a critical prospect.
With regards to the packaging for a magazine it would be all about the look and feel of the magazine, so the image you choose for the front cover and the paper used to print the publication will all add to the appearance of the product. With a fashion magazine the first impression that main image on the front cover gives, the headlines and subheadings need to catch the audiences attention and make it something desirable and exciting that they will want to pick up and buy to find out whats inside.
With regards to the packaging for a magazine it would be all about the look and feel of the magazine, so the image you choose for the front cover and the paper used to print the publication will all add to the appearance of the product. With a fashion magazine the first impression that main image on the front cover gives, the headlines and subheadings need to catch the audiences attention and make it something desirable and exciting that they will want to pick up and buy to find out whats inside.
Positioning
Positioning is all about thinking continually about how you are positioned in the hearts and minds of your customers, what the overall opinion of your product is amongst the consumers.
The positioning of a product is all about how you are seen and thought about by your customers, to think about this I need to determine the position I'd like my product to have. When thinking about product positioning I go back to the product positioning chart which indicates the position I am aiming my product for, to do this I will be attempting to create a fashion magazine that creates that ideal impression into the hearts and minds of my target customer, something that is inspirational and exciting and full of weird and wonderful photo shoots and ideas.
The positioning of a product is all about how you are seen and thought about by your customers, to think about this I need to determine the position I'd like my product to have. When thinking about product positioning I go back to the product positioning chart which indicates the position I am aiming my product for, to do this I will be attempting to create a fashion magazine that creates that ideal impression into the hearts and minds of my target customer, something that is inspirational and exciting and full of weird and wonderful photo shoots and ideas.
People
People is all about people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales and marketing strategy and activities.
The people section of the 7 ps is probably the most important because it is all about the people you hire and collaborate with on your work with producing the product. It is key to find the right people who have the skills and abilities to do the job you need, so for my product I will need to think about exactly what people I need as a team and then who in that team is going to carry out each task and responsibility.
The people section of the 7 ps is probably the most important because it is all about the people you hire and collaborate with on your work with producing the product. It is key to find the right people who have the skills and abilities to do the job you need, so for my product I will need to think about exactly what people I need as a team and then who in that team is going to carry out each task and responsibility.
To produce my magazine the people I will be looking to collaborate with are...
Stylist
Photographer
Hair & Make-up artist
Graphics Designer
Models
Journalists
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