STUDY MEDIA AT HOME
This course is designed as a foundation for a career in either electronic or print media publishing.
The course aims to provide a broad cross section of skills which are of value in a publishing organisation.
Research has shown that graduates with broad based knowledge such as this have enhanced career prospects.
Modules
Note that each module in the Qualification - Associate Diploma In Media is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.
Media is a Business
Anyone can become involved in the media industry today; thanks to modern technology; but if you want to be successful; you need to be good at business; and competent at marketing.
It is one thing to produce a publication or web site; and another thing to make money from it.
The success of a book, magazine or any other publication will depend on the marketing of that publication. Marketing involves every aspect of what is involved in taking the publication from the writer to the reader. Marketing is concerned with how the writing is taken to the reader, and the methods used to do this will have a profound effect upon the success or failure of the publication in a commercial sense. A bad publication which is marketed well may have every chance of being successful. An excellent publication can very easily fail if it is not marketed well.
Marketing involves such deciding such things as:
- Print run estimates. How many copies are likely to sell in the first print run?
- Design considerations. What cover design will catch the attention of potential customers? Should the publication use full colour throughout? What illustrations are suitable?
- Printing and binding decisions. Will customers pay extra for a durable hard cover or would they prefer a cheaper soft cover? Should matt or gloss paper be used?
- The distribution network. How will the publication be distributed to retailers? A publication has to be sold in the right places; for example, a sewing manual might sell very well in sewing shops but poorly in newsagents.
- The promotional campaign. How will the publication be promoted? How much money should be spent on promotion?
If potential customers don't know about the publication, they are not going to be tempted to purchase it.
Projecting the Future
Publishers must be able to anticipate consumer needs and wants. They also need to understand the potential for sales and the limitations, now and in the future. In order to do this you will also need to have knowledge of the services they use and how often they buy products or use these services.
Once you have determined a target market you need to know:
- Has your market segment bought a similar product to yours before?
- What is the potential for your product i.e. how many do you think you can sell?
- Will your market potentially give you repeat business? How much?
- Can the scope of your market change with a potential shift in demographics or socio-economic change i.e. is the population aging? Is employment stable? Are family structures changing?
- Could a change in government policies (i.e. taxes) or laws affect your market?
Positioning
Positioning is how your target market perceives you and your products in relation to your competitors. Position marketers create an image in the mind of the target market who perceive that the product (often unique to the business) with which they are being targeted as desirable i.e. creating the right image for themselves.
Positioning also involves convincing a potential market that your ‘unique’ product has greater prestige. In order to begin positioning a product (or your business) you need to know:
- Whether you have a competitive advantage with other products (that may be able to perform the same function) offered by your competitors.
- What will draw potential customers to your product and make them buy that instead, how much will it cost them to do this?
- Whether you are the first business to offer this book or other product/
- Can you keep quality high and costs low?
- Is the product unique?
- What attributes do the products have?
- Is your product/s positioned directly against competition or away from competition?
- Do you know your products, how they are used, what advantages they have and the benefits to your customers?
- Have you identified a class of users?
