Carrying Out Research

Before starting production, it is useful to carry out some research. This chapter covers the reasons for conducting research and the main methods of researching.

Reasons For Conducting Research

There are three main reasons for doing research:

to find out what appeals to your potential readers and what they are likely to buy or read
to find out what any competitors are doing
to locate resources

Let’s consider each of these in turn.

Finding Out What Appeals To Your Potential Readers And What They Are Likely To Buy Or Read

If your magazine is for a particular interest group, it may be that you do not have to do any specific research, as you may know their interests, likes and dislikes before you start. For example, if you are starting a village magazine, a magazine for your company, or a magazine for a newly established voluntary organisation, you may well be doing so because you, or others, have already identified a need. Even so, it might be worthwhile carrying out a small amount of research to establish whether there is any alternative to setting up something new.

If you do need to find out about potential readers’ needs, you can conduct some market research into this. Large-scale market research is very specialised and can be costly; however, small-scale research may just involve speaking to a few people in the relevant area and asking if they would welcome a new publication and, if so, what they would like to see in it and what they would be prepared to pay for it (if it is to be sold rather than given away). If you need help with research, you can find a specialist in this area and a few sources of information on this are listed in the resources section at the end of the book (in Appendix 4).

Finding Out What Any Competitors Are Doing

If your magazine has competitors, it is useful to have information on them so that your magazine can be produced in a way that will attract readers to you, rather than lose them to other publishers. To this end, it helps to know the kind of material your competitors are producing, what their readership is, what their advertising rates are, and so forth. This is likely to be an easier task when you are dealing with commercial magazines than when you are concerned with magazines for small, non-commercial interest groups, because commericial magazines tend to have published data on their scope, circulation and finances. Even if data is not published, you can still contact the organisation concerned in order to obtain the information, or look to see if it has a website containing any useful information. Places to find information on other publications are detailed in the resources section of the book (Appendix 4).

Locating Resources

To run your magazine effectively, you will need various resources, including finance, equipment, assistance and items to publish. To track these down you can speak to people in non-competing publications and search published data for information. There are many ways of sourcing goods and services at reduced costs, which is invaluable if you are working to a low budget. You will find more on this in Chapter 12, ‘Equipment and Resources’.

Ways Of Conducting Research

Look At Published Data

One source of information on commercially published magazines in the UK is BRAD (British Rates and Data). BRAD publishes details of periodicals, together with information on their circulation, scope and advertising costs – updated monthly. You can also check with professional associations, such as the Periodical Publishers’ Association and the British Association for Communicators in Business, which should be able to give you information on their members’ publications. Your local library should also be a good source of information in this area as they have a variety of directories of publications and publishing companies. See the resources list for further contact details (Appendix 4).

Ask Within Your Particular Sector

This might be an industry, a profession, a hobby, and so forth. People working within a sector will often be a good source of information and you could start by approaching professional bodies, clubs and associations.

Ask In Your Geographical Area

This could involve checking with a local government authority or regional board. Local newspapers, libraries and information bureaux are useful in this context, as are local directories of various kinds.

Look On The Internet

This will be particularly useful if you are trying to track down electronically published magazines (e-zines), but will also give you useful information on printed publications. Search under key words, such as the topic the magazine covers, in order to gather information.

Attend Relevant Events

There are many events, such as trade fairs, conferences, exhibitions and seminars, in the publishing field. Attending some of these will help expand your information base and provide you with useful contacts for the future. The Resources List on page 151 gives professional bodies and magazines that can help you locate such events.