[kainman1]

Hi Everyone,

I am looking to start a magazine which revolves around the social aspects of university life. The magazine will cover a range of topics including fashion, student advice, university events e.t.c . Imagine a student version of FHM just to give an idea but it will be more student oriented. Written by students for students covering different student related social sections.

Myself and a few people I have consulted believe there is a market for it however I am trying to prepare a market research questionnare before attempting a business plan.

I am stuck on the questionnaire and cannot seem to figure out what questions to include.

I would really appreciate any help regarding what would be appropriate questions.


Thanks

[s2008aw]

Hi there, interesting idea. What is your market will, it be university specific, regional or nationwide.
This is one of those things, where you need to find out about what university students like to read about and find out what the competition is not offering. If your offering it for free (than you need to make money by ads) if its paid for than you need to ask whether university students will be willing to pay for it. The last time I was in uni, everyone I knew had little money and a budget to work around, so it really needs to be something (a) they value and want to pay for and (b)not offered by the competition.

Its interesting because way back when Richard Branson started out he created a magazine called the student, aimed at issues for teenagers.

[hugh009]

I have been involved in a national magazine startup in 1996 called Angel Times.

I also have 34 years of experience as a serial entrepreneur.

My Masters is in Advertising and Public REALations as I like to call it.

I have spent the last 8 years learning EVERY THING I can about Internet Marketing working with legends like Jay Abraham and Mark Joyner.

Today I would say that you would be smart to first check out MySpace and Facebook to see how many of your fellow students are on there already. I would tell them about your proposed magazine and get their reaction. Cheap questioning and quick response.

If the response is positive I would then enlist the ones that were HOT for your idea as "evangelists" that also can spread the word through their friends on campus.

Gosh, if we had ONLY had this avail when we launched Angle Times!

Hugh

[kainman1]

Thanx for the advice.Will probably try that for initial feedback

[capforge]

You might want to consider this approach: build an online brand first, and then when you have a decent following, launch the magazine. Since it is so much less expensive to publish online, and you can change things rapidly as you see what is and isn't working, you can iron out a lot of kinks before you spend the money to get magazines printed and distributed. You will need an online component anyway, so why not start there and see how things go before you launch the print version? Another advantage of this approach is that it will be much easier to approach advertisers, since you will already have stats on your demographics and readership, and it will be less of a risk for advertisers. You can also offer them a combined print/online advertising package, to make it more attractive.

To answer your original question, you probably want to ask questions along the lines of what do they want to see in a magazine, do they even buy magazines, and what magazines do they subscribe to now (so you can see what they are reading in print and what those magazines offer).

[carla222]

What is often forgotten in marketing research is the objective for doing research in the first place.

What do you need to find out? Why do need to find this information?

Once you have your marketing research objective your survey questions should lead into information that will answer the objective.

If you need further explanation send me a private message I'll be able to help you.