Media Researcher

Media Researcher

Due to my different experiences from working at Kerr-Click online fashion and blog for many years, I have been approached to write an editorial describing my daily routine within my work as a media researcher. At the beginning of my work I needed some internship and work experience for the fashion industry where I helped in the media aspect of things.  My work ranged from editing, advertisement, web design and the occasional photography. I also searched into fashion blogs and fashion shows to diverse my understanding in the fashion industry. In direction to make a website or magazine prosperous it would be very crucial that you do research into what you want to do first. To do this you would have to use market research, production research and audience research to get recent data and concepts to catch up with the audience and to get in connect with the readers.

By doing an audience research we are trying to get to know our target market through the use of different research types like clarifications and try-outs to define and categorize the kind of people who like to go online shopping or look into fashion blogs. Doing this kind of market research would allow the business know how to improve or change their products in order to appeal to the market and possibly increase the boost in profits. It can also allow any aspiring fashion lover to know the interests of their audience so that they can specifically make their products to target them.

 The first type of research I needed to complete was audience research. Audience research is imponrtant because it allows us to build a clear picture of who our audience is and how we can appeal ot them. One kind of research we conducted was a research where we studied the kind of products our target market would like and the kind of things that are in current trends.  We did a primary research for women early teens to mid-40 so that we were able to have a wider audience. For Kerr-Click, this is important as we provide products for a wide range of women. however if my product was more niche targeted, then my audience selection would be too so that our data would remain relevant. After we did our own research we decided to do a survey and ask the audience directly by doing VoxPop, which consist of going to the high street and hosting interviews to the audience. We decided to do these interviews at high streets with clothing stores such Wimbledon, Westfield, West Croft, White Gift, Oxford Street and Ashleigh Centre. The question we generally asked them were their age, their daily routine, how often they go out e.g. for parties or hanging out with friends, where they are from, their interest in fashion and their knowledge about it. We then started to ask some more personal questions like the kind of things they like and don’t like, and how often they buy clothing and how much they normally spend, how often they go online a computer to go shopping or if they would prefer it as an app so that if they are on the move they are able to access it. I think it was crucial to ask these kind of question so that the company knows the kind of things they should be making and at what price, so that the target market would be able to able to afford it. This would also help the business because it would be able to be ahead of their competitors. To be able to do this we did a geodemographic examination associating the likenesses of the people who live in the area we wanted to aim for. Since London, Milan and New York have been announced as the fashion capitals we thought of extending our surveys to those area’s to get the research we needed. Doing this helped us receive the qualitative research we needed in order to build an extensive profile of the audience to allow us to meet their interest.

To be able to achieve the goal of having a successful high fashion website we had to conduct a market research to gain feedback on other blog, and retail fashion shops. Market research is a type of research that collects and examines information from the customers to the producer. In order to get the result we were searching for I made a focus group and have several different questions with the topic of subject we were looking for. I decided to have different kind of people there so that our answers would be varied. Most of the participants we choose to question were 20 – 40 years old females it was mainly people who could do online shopping and were in a stable job. Having the correct people there is vital because it’s not towards the audience you’re reaching out for, so it would have been useless as my audience is mostly females and females who shop online. Doing a primary research assisted me compare other leading online clothing shops and blogs such as, New Look, Matalan, TKMAXX, Debenhams and more. I asked questions such as ‘how would you compare Kerr- Click to these retailers ‘and ‘what do you think is important for an online fashion and blog website’? It is very crucial that you know how to address the people you are asking and to know the right kind of questions to ask them. Doing a competitor analysis research is like a primary research however this rather looks at the similar things that other retailers have like Kerr-Click due to the fact that they target the similar audience and their purpose it the same therefore they are our competitors. Having a focus group and showing them adverts, banners and posters to promote the website asking them what their favourite colours were, images, themes and styles were we were able to make various different commercial advertisements to target the audience.

We also decided to ask them what channels they mostly watch so that we are able to generally target the people we want to see our website, isn’t of advertising it blindly. Once the quantitative data was collected I used BARB (an agency that measures viewing rates of television to see what the UK is watching). I discovered this by doing the secondary research and was able to plan where I wished to broadcast all advertisements. Doing the quantative research helped to know the figures to other retail websites. One kind of research we conducted was a research where we studied the kind of products our target market would like and the kind of things that are in current trends. 

Production research is just researching a product to gather information that may be useful. I decided to do my production about the current trends, so that the blog and all the clothing would be up-to-date, fresh and modern. We then decided to pursuit for web host that would host the website for us to get the company started. Once we were able to find a host we thought about making it public and the advertisements needed for the website to be a big hit and have its promo. It is crucial to think about other aspects in having the business such as plagiarism, copyright, personal researchers and web makers and writers. For example I would need to make sure that all the clothes being sold are up to date, the descriptions for them are detailed and not forced and that the web designer keep the website modern and interesting.

I would also have to think about the photographer to take the pictures of the clothes and the people to write about the various blogs. To make all those happen I had to look for photography studies in London or locally where we are able to photograph models wearing our clothing products or just the clothes that they are wearing. I would have to put up an ad stating my requirements or look for a professional photography company to aid my in my task at hand. Due to all that would need to be done in order to get production started I would have to think about the amount of money that would need to be set aside. I would have to consider model hiring, studio hire, equipment hire , website costs, advertisement costs , rent , copyright cost and other requirements that are needed in order to start a business.

Media researchers a crucially important for a media company to reach success because by researching and knowing the audience opinions and thought allows it to be widespread and famous within the public.