How Do You Define Your Target Market For Your Magazine

By Author: Kevin Young
Total Articles: 31
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Knowing your target market is a key element to a successful magazine. So what exactly, you may be asking, is a target market?
Your target market is made up of those readers who have an interest in the main focus of your magazine. They most likely share your passion.
For example, if you love origami and publish a magazine, your audience will be artists, hobby enthusiasts and others with an interest in origami.
If, on the other hand, you love fly-fishing, I doubt that the same market would be interested in your fly-fishing publication. Your target market of outdoors lovers, more specifically those who love to fish, and even more specifically, those who love to fly-fish - they would be your target market.
To determine distribution of your publication you must know your target market. Your target market's hobbies and interests, in short their psychographics and demographics, will play a major role in picking which places should be considered for distribution
Getting your publication into the hands of those who desire to share your passion through the pages of your magazine will be a first step in your ...
... success. Assuming that your publication will fill a need, if the right market can easily get their hands on a copy of your publication, then developing your advertising base will be much easier.
So take some time to consider your market. Whom do you talk with about your passion? Do you belong to a club, an organization, an online group? Is there an association of people with similar interests that you can connect with? This is the beginning point of determining your market.
Another word for this market is your audience. After you've listed all the potential places that you personally are involved where you might find fellow enthusiasts, then you'll want to dig a bit deeper. There are many ways to find a larger circle. You can use the assistance of a local college, community college, Small Business Development Center, even the Public Library. There are resource people in each of these locations willing and able to help you dig deeper into locating your target market.
There are mailing lists that you can buy based on zip codes and interest. Businesses whose expertise is circulation/distribution can also be great resources for learning where and how to reach your audience. In some cases, the niche will be small and spread out, requiring that you most likely will need to mail a large percentage of your publication. If it's a regional publication, you can often distribute through a variety of locations such as: libraries, grocery/convenient stores, restaurants, etc.
As you can see, knowing your target market is an important key to your success. So start listing all the possibilities where you might find your audience/target market. With this information you'll begin to determine how you're going to get your magazine into their hands.

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