Market Research Case Study

Transcription

1 Market Research Case Study ComStrat 565: Final Project Jeannie Dimico Washington State University Spring P a g e

2 Table of Contents Overview... 3 Market Research/Focus Group # Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (Before Market Research)... 5 Cover Letter... 6 Moderator Guide... 7 Audio Recording... 9 Transcript... 9 Log of Revision Process Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (After Market Research) Market Research/Focus Group # Recruitment Flyer (Before Market Research) Cover Letter Moderator Guide Audio Recording Transcript Log of Revision Process Recruitment Flyer (After Market Research) P a g e

3 Overview The following market research study was conducted by Jeannie Dimico, a graduate student in the Strategic Communication program at Washington State University, to assess two products for a virtual book club named Beyond the Shelf. The first product tested was the Facebook page where the virtual book club is curated. The second product tested was a recruitment flyer to join Beyond the Shelf s Facebook page. The primary audience was social media users and book lovers aged 18 and older. In order to gain feedback regarding each product, Ms. Dimico, conducted two focus groups to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Beyond the Shelf s Facebook page and recruitment flyer. These groups were composed of members of the Vicenza (Italy) Military Community aged Each group was given a different product to review and provide feedback. A link to Beyond the Shelf s Facebook page was sent to the participants three weeks before the first focus group was conducted to review the content and consistency of posts on the page. The second focus group was given a copy of the recruitment flyer the day of the focus group. The focus groups provided valuable feedback that was analyzed and used to improve each product. Complete focus group information including moderator guides, transcripts, evaluations, and revisions can be found in the following sections. 3 P a g e

4 Market Research/Focus Group #1 On March 17, 2016 at 10:00 a.m., Washington State University conducted a focus group for the market testing of a virtual book club named Beyond the Shelf. The focus group session was conducted at the Education Center on Caserma Ederle Army installation in Vicenza, Italy with Jeannie Dimico as the moderator. The purpose of the study was to research the validity and effectiveness of an online book club curated through a Facebook page. Ms. Dimico recruited seven participants from the Vicenza Military Community Facebook page. The participants were all female and aged years. Five participants were Caucasian, one was Asian, and one was Latino. The focus group session lasted approximately 27 minutes. The participants discussed various elements of the page to include the profile picture (logo), cover photo, page description, and content posted on the page such as the 2016 reading challenge, articles, and book of the month. Overall, data gained by Washington State University and Beyond the Shelf demonstrated the interest and validity of a virtual book club. The feedback gained through the focus group proved to be valuable during the revision process. Although only a few changes were made to the page, we found that the content about books and the idea of a virtual book club is relevant in today s society. 4 P a g e

5 Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (Before Market Research) 5 P a g e

6 Cover Letter- Focus Group #1 March 17, 2015 Dear Focus Group Participants, My name is Jeannie Dimico and I am a graduate student in the Strategic Communication program at Washington State University. You have been invited to participate in a focus group for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. For this focus group you will be reviewing a Facebook page named Beyond the Shelf. I ask that you familiarize yourself with the page before the focus group. I will have it available (barring technical difficulties) but it will help, timewise, if you have already viewed the site and are familiar with the content. You can find the link here: Shelf / Your participation in the focus group is completely voluntary. Completion of the focus group implies consent. Please note that all of your information will be kept confidential and used for research purposes only. I, or Washington State University, will not sell, publish, or distribute your personal information. I want to personally thank you for taking the time to participate in the focus group. Your responses are valuable to me and I appreciate your support. The focus group will be conducted at the Education Center on Caserma Ederle. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start time of 10:00 am. The receptionist will be able to direct you to the room once you arrive. Children are not allowed to be in the room as it will be recorded for the purpose of transcription. If you have any questions concerning the focus group, please contact me directly at jeannie.dimico@wsu.edu. Sincerely, Jeannie Dimico Strategic Communication Graduate Student Washington State University 6 P a g e

7 Moderator s Guide- Focus Group #1 1) Moderator welcomes participants and introduces the project Moderator: Hello, my name is Jeannie Dimico. I am a graduate student at Washington State University. I am conducting this focus group as part of an assignment for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. I want to thank you for agreeing to participate in this focus group today. GUIDELINES: Before we begin, I want to go over a few guidelines that will help us cover all the questions I have: I encourage you to share your opinions, whether they are positive or negative about your view of any of the topics that come up. There is no right or wrong answers. Your name will not be used in any of the reports based on the information we discuss today. I hope that you will feel comfortable speaking your mind regarding the topics we discuss today. Recording: Our discussion will be recorded (audio only) for transcription purposes. It also allows me to focus on you and your responses to the questions. Also, because of the recording it is very important that only one person speaks at a time. Before we begin, do you have any questions? I want you to feel comfortable talking to me and in front of the group, so I ll ask you a question or two when you introduce yourself. 1. Please introduce yourself and tell us something you like to do in your free time. I ll start; you know my name is Jeannie. In my free time, I like to read. (Relate to the participants if possible, for example if they like to read, ask them what kind of books, etc.) Before coming today, I asked you to review a Facebook page called Beyond the Shelf. The page was designed to promote content about reading and books. The questions I ask will be in reference to this page. To begin our discussion, I d like to find out what you thought about the page in general. Now, we ll get into some specifics. 1. What do you think of the name, Beyond the Shelf? Is it relevant to the topic of reading and books? 2. What do you think of the logo in the profile picture? Color, design, etc. 3. What do you think of the cover photo? 7 P a g e

8 4. What do you think of the content on the page? Do you feel that it is relevant to the subject matter? -Did anyone notice the book of the month? If so, what do you think of this feature? Would you participate in discussions for a book club? -Did anyone notice the reading challenge pinned to the top? What do you think of this concept? Would you join? 5. What did you like the most about this page? 6. What did you like least about this page? 7. Now that you have viewed and discussed the Facebook page, I want to talk to you about what you would like to see on the page. If you could help redesign the page, what would you include to make it more appealing to people to want to join? a. What topics would you tell them is the most important to include? b. What would your perfect Facebook page about books look like? 8. We are almost done with our discussion but I would like to make sure you have had a chance to tell us everything you think someone who is making the content decisions should know. Summary and Conclusion Moderator briefly summarizes the themes and responses for the participants: Does it seem like I have captured what you have told me today? Do you have anything else to add? Thank you for joining me today. I truly appreciate your time. 8 P a g e

9 Audio Recording- Focus Group #1 Topic: Beyond the Shelf Facebook page Moderator: Jeannie Dimico Research Sponsor: Washington State University Date: March 17, 2016 Duration: 29:03 The audio recording of this focus group can be found at this link: Transcript- Focus Group #1 Moderator: Hello, my name is Jeannie Dimico. I am a graduate student at Washington State University. I am conducting this focus group as part of an assignment for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. I want to thank you for agreeing to participate in this focus group today. Before we begin, I want to go over a few guidelines that will help us cover all the questions I have: I encourage you to share your opinions, whether they are positive or negative about your view of any of the topics that come up. There is no right or wrong answers. Your name will not be used in any of the reports based on the information we discuss today. I hope that you will feel comfortable speaking your mind regarding the topics we discuss. Our discussion will be recorded (audio only) for transcription purposes. It also allows me to focus on you and your responses to the questions. Also, because of the recording it is very important that only one person speaks at a time. Before we begin, do you have any questions? Group: No ma am Moderator: Alright, first I want you to introduce yourself and tell us something you like to do in your free time. 9 P a g e

10 Um, I just want you to feel comfortable talking in the group, and so we re just kind of do around the circle and I ll go first. Um, ya ll know my name is Jeannie and in my free time, I like to read. Kristina Kristina: My name is Kristina and in my free time I like to travel. Jill: My name is Jill and in my free time I like to bake. Deanna: My name is Deanna and in my free time I like to ride and ski. Isabella: Hi. I m Isabella and in my free time, I like to travel. Juliet: Hi, I m Juliet and in my free time I like to go antique shopping. Ellen: My name is Ellen and in my free time I like to travel. Colleen: Hi, my name is Colleen and in my free time I like to cook., all sounds like fun. Alright, before coming today, I asked you to review a Facebook page called Beyond the Shelf. The page was designed to promote content about reading and books. The questions I ask will be in reference to this page. Did everyone have an opportunity to review it? *murmured yes around the room Moderator: To begin our discussion, I d like to find out what you thought about the page in general. Ellen: I liked it. I liked all the, um, like the little quotes and the interesting um you know reading. Moderator e: okay, the articles and stuff? Ellen: Yes, the articles, anyone else. Colleen: I thought the articles had a lot of good information. I liked the um, I think there was an article posted something 50 top books of 2016 which I read through which I thought was interesting because I was expecting it to be like novel, novel, novel and there was like a coloring book in there and there was a kids book and so I thought that was interesting just because it wasn t what I expected. Jill: I like um, you have a link to your other website that you have and it has your reading challenge. 10 P a g e

11 Moderator: The reading challenge from Okay, anyone else?, so what do you guys think of the name, Beyond the Shelf? Do you think it is relevant to the reading, to the topic of reading and books? Juliet: I think so cause you like added some articles in there, and then like it s just not, like she was saying, there was a coloring book in there. It s just beyond what you normally think of. And then discussions beyond books. Colleen: I like the name because I know what it s about but if I just saw it without knowing it was about books, I might not realize it was about books.. Colleen: So if it was called something like Beyond the Book Shelf maybe. It might be easier for people to know what it is because I went to it and I looked at the articles and everything, and I could see the cover photo was a bunch of books and stuff like that. So that gives you like the clue that it s about books but if I just looked at the name Beyond the Shelf, I don t know if I would know it was book related. Juliet: I actually did the same thing. I went the page, and I was like hmm Beyond the Shelf. Then I saw it said book and then I started going through and seeing like the articles that were related to books but didn t really make the connection. I had to go back up and read the description cause I, I usually go past that on pages, and so I went back up to the description and it said like to discuss things, and discussions, and different kinds of books and everything so I love it. That s a really good point., anyone else want to comment on the name? Deanna: I thought the name was clever, creative. I knew it was about books but maybe that s because I just know you. *laughter*, what do you guys think of the logo and the profile picture? The name, the design, the color? Ellen: the profile picture being the big picture? The profile picture is the small picture. Ellen: Facebook savvy. I was going to comment on the big picture because I really like that picture. Moderator: We will get to that one in a second. And this is actually the full picture. It doesn t fit in the profile so this is actually the logo for Beyond the Shelf. 11 P a g e

12 Colleen: I like the full picture better cause I feel like with the full picture you can tell that it s books stacked. With the other picture, it kind of just looked like a design. Moderator: It cuts it off. Colleen: Right. Juliet: This is a super small thing but the uh, since they re evenly spaced all the way across, it would be nice if there was a space between the black and the red on the left side just to keep it kind of uniformed. Colleen: Yeah *Laughter* Juliet: Sorry, graphics. Moderator: Now, what do you guys think of the color, or should I the say colors? Colleen: I like the red because I feel like it grabs your attention. Colleen: Like, I think the red is a good addition. I think it if it was just black and white you might just scroll past it. Deanna: Yeah, but it s still muted enough it doesn t take your attention away. Okay, and how about the font of the name? Ellen: I like it. It s clear but it has a little pizazz to it. Kristina: It s not too boring. Moderator: Not too boring, okay. Would you consider um a different color or are you liking the red, black and grey theme? Jill: I like the red, black, and grey Kristina: I like it. Deanna: Yeah, me too. Juliet: One more small graphic. Juliet: Sorry, if the beyond or if like the B and the T lined up with the red as well. 12 P a g e

13 , so make it a little smaller. Okay. Anymore discussion? Jill: Would you make the font smaller or just keep the font the same, and just extend the book? Juliet: Would you move, or just maybe extend the book, yeah. Jill: Cause if you make the font smaller, it might take away the effect of like, you know like the importance of it. Juliet: hmm hmm Jill: I don t know, but I know what you mean about lining it up to better fit the lines. Kristina: Just make the book bigger. Juliet: wider, yeah.. Alright, what do you think of the cover photo? I know Ellen wanted to talk about this. Ellen: I love the cover photo. *Laughter* Ellen: I think it s neat. I don t know. I just like the stacked up books. And sort of a little bit of disarray but still sort of with the old door and all that I think that looks nice. Moderator: Did anyone scroll over the picture to find out where the picture is from? Juliet: I was actually about to ask that. Moderator: Cause it actually has a description. It was taken at Libreria L Acqua in Venice, Italy. Ellen: That s neat. Colleen: I didn t know you could do that. Deanna: Me either *laughter* Colleen: But now I want to go there. Kristina: Is that where you tagged the picture? Moderator: hmm mmm Jill: huh 13 P a g e

14 Moderator: So, would you... Kristina: It s a neat place. Moderator: It is a very neat place. Would you consider a different cover photo or do you like this one? *murmuring* Kristina: I like it. Colleen: I like this cover photo cause it just reminds of like all those tiny used book stores that you kind of find on accident. It just reminds me of that, just the way the books are stacked and jammed into the shelves and stuff like that. Juliet: I think it kind of goes well with the name too like beyond the shelf, it s not just like a really orderly shelf of books. It s like they re all stacked up but it s not usually what you think of., anyone else. Okay, so what do you think of the content on the page? I know we kind of touched on this a while ago. Um, do you feel that it is relevant to the mission of the page of discussing things that are everything, that are bookish related? The articles, the photos, things like that. I know Jill mentioned that you saw the reading challenge. Uh, did anyone else notice the reading challenge pinned to the top of the page? Colleen: So, I noticed the reading challenge but I wasn t like when I clicked on it there was no description of what the reading challenge actually was. Colleen: So, there was no details like you read one book a month or one book a week or whatever the reading challenge is. I know there was link to a group but the group was closed so I couldn t read the description of the group either. Colleen: So it was something I was interested in but I didn t really, there wasn t really a lot information right up front about the details of the reading challenge. Jill: The details that I did find though, it was on the web, the, your other web page. Moderator: The link? 14 P a g e

15 Jill: Yeah, the links. I clicked on that and it took me to the link that they gave the description about the reading challenge and stuff. Colleen: Okay Jill: So that is how I, besides. Moderator: Now what do you think of having a separate group specifically for the reading challenge? Because we have a hundred and fifty people in that group right now which would a little daunting, um, on the main Beyond the Shelf page so this is something we separated from Beyond the Shelf so it had its own little purpose. Cause actually, the description of the reading challenge is you have forty categories of different books and you have the entire year of 2016 to complete them. Colleen: Okay Moderator: There is no weekly requirement, monthly requirement. You just go at your own pace. And you post in the Facebook group once you ve completed a book. You just put the title of the book, the author, and what category it was in and a little description so everyone knows what you read. So, um, adding that information would probably be very useful. So, but do you like the idea of having that separate the main page rather than just having and event on the page? Deanna: I would prefer on this page.. Deanna: Because I try to limit, like, the number of pages that I am part of on Facebook because it just gets overwhelming but also I think like even if someone isn t participating in a challenge it might be interested to see the descriptions of books that other people are reading, like it might peak their interest. Uh, and you might engage more people by having it here. You know, someone might not start off that way but then if you have five people posting then they re like oh, maybe I ll join. Colleen: And it might also give people ideas of what books to read like if somebody posts, oh I read this non-fiction book and it was fantastic and I highly recommend it then somebody might say, Hey, I m going to pick up that book. Deanna: And someone might not want to do the challenge but Colleen: Right, but if they see something that they re interested in 15 P a g e

16 Juliet: I think it s good for, I think that there s pros and cons to what they re saying that some people might find it interesting to see the descriptions but then I also think that if there s gonna be discussions about specific books like with a group discussion that it might be better if it was on a different page. Moderator: There s not really a discussion Juliet: Okay Moderator: per se. It s just kind of Juliet: Just kind of post Moderator: put a description of what you read. Juliet: Okay Moderator: So, I completed this category for the challenge. And other people can comment on it. Juliet: hmm mmm Moderator: Um, my question. Do you think it would overwhelming to have, you know, say we have 150 people on this page like we do with the group and they re all posting consistently on this page and it s popping up in your news feed. Do you think that would be overwhelming and you would dislike Beyond the Shelf? Juliet: That s interesting Deanna: I don t think it would cause people to dislike the page but it might cause people to not be as engaged with the page. Deanna: You know like there, there are Facebook pages that I m a part of and they pop up on my newsfeed and I ignore it cause I know it s not something I care about. Deanna: I think maybe, might be at risk for that. I don t know. Colleen: Yeah, I think another thing too is if you have people commenting, I read this book, it s this category, over and over and over and people see it and they say, Oh, I don t care what book Julia read on Sunday. And then the post that you actually make, the articles and things like that, that maybe they do care about. They must scroll past thinking, Oh, it s just another one of those people who read a book. So, I think having a separate page is a good idea because you 16 P a g e

17 want people who want to be part of the book challenge to have that information but people who don t want to be part of the book challenge; you don t want to alienate them from your page. Kristina: Right Colleen: And from the, the stuff that they are interested in like the articles and things like that. Deanna: You could always post a monthly wrap up or something. Juliet: Right, exactly. Colleen: Yeah, or if you have a lot of people posting the same book, you might grab a post and say, hey, here s a book that s highly recommended from a lot of people in our book challenge or something like that, where you re still grabbing information from the page but just kind of editing what you re putting out., that s a great idea. Jill: Or if you put like a top ten or top five list out Colleen: Oh yeah, that s a good idea. and that kind of leads me, um, to the next question. Did anyone notice the book of the month? That we have an event set up each month for the um, if you go to the events. If you scroll down the page, you will see the events but here is the March book of the month. It s an event, and the book of the month for March is When I Was Yours by Samantha Towle. Did anyone notice that little event? Ellen: I saw it. Juliet: I noticed it. Kristina: I didn t even know you could do that for events. Colleen: I clicked on it. I actually read the excerpt in the, in the description. Moderator: Now, what do you think of the idea of having a book of the month, kind of if we, the idea of it is for the viewers of the Facebook page to contribute, to offer suggestions of what should be the book for the month and then we vote on what it is, and that becomes the book. Then at the end of the month, on March 31 st, the discussion begins about the book and it stays within there. It is completely optional and you don t have to participate to like the page but it s something that the page offers in addition to all the articles and reading material. 17 P a g e

18 Kristina: I like that. Deanna: Kind of like a book club. That s a great idea. Colleen: I think that s a great idea. And I think having it as an event is a great idea because then your page isn t going to be flooded Kristina: That s what I was gonna say. Colleen: with discussion posts. You re gonna keep it in the event so people who read the book can join and people who didn t don t have to. Kristina: Yeah Colleen: be flooded with notifications. Moderator: And this could be another outlet to bring in your idea of having the suggestions from the reading challenge to put those up for nominations for the next book, or if you ve read a book that you absolutely love then you could suggest it, and then the viewers would vote on what our book would be for the next month. And I actually read this book, um, last month which is why I put it up because I haven t been getting any suggestions for the book of the month, so if you re interested. It s a really, really good book. It s about second chance love. So. Okay. Alrighty. So, um, okay so we re gonna kind of wrap it up now. What did you like the most about the page? Like what was your favorite part? Isabella: It brought awareness to reading. Isabella: Like I enjoy reading and um, but sometimes I get so busy being a mom and doing everything else that I forget about it, and then I get on this. I m like I really like reading. I need to start reading again. So it s inspiring. Colleen: I think the book of the month was my favorite part because so many times when I finish a book, I m thinking okay, what am I supposed to read now? And so, and I don t have personally a lot of friends that I see on a daily basis who like to read or have time to read all the time so getting suggestions from friends and things like that is tough. Um, so having a page like this where somebody is like hey, I read this book and it s really great then you know if I can go pick it up at the library or something like that, that could be my next book. Cause I m always whenever I finish a book, I have no idea what to do. Ellen: I agree. Kristina: I ll have to agree too. 18 P a g e

19 Ellen: Yeah, I m always looking for like a suggestion of something that someone has read. Once in a while, a friend will post on Facebook like Oh, I just finished this book, it s so great. I always take note of it and like go look for the book. So if there was a place to go where, you know, that was readily available. Colleen: I love reading series because you finish a book and then you could just go on to the next one and that s so easy. Moderator: Anyone else want to comment on what their favorite thing about the page was? Juliet: I think that the profile and cover photos are nice.. Okay, now I want you to be brutally honest. What did dislike most about the page? If anything? Juliet: I think the description could be just a little bit longer. Moderator: A little bit more robust? Juliet: hmm mmm Juliet: Um, I just, when I was reading it, if I remember correctly it was just a couple of sentences in the description which is good to have it not be like this long, drawn out thing but I almost didn t get a sense of the page or like the mission of the page when I was reading it.. Anyone else? Colleen: You know, I think mine would just go back to the name, Beyond the Shelf, if you just expanded it. Or like she said expand the description so that people don t just pass by it and think like, oh, this is a contracting website for people who build closets or something like that. *laughter* Colleen: Cause like I said, I think that the book logo is good but at the whole book logo is more of the picture of that actually looks like books. Do you know what I mean? Moderator: Right Colleen: Cause you have like the slanted one and then you see, oh it looks like books. The profile picture, I, if I had no idea what this page was about, I don t know if I would look at the profile picture and say, like, that s about books. 19 P a g e

20 Juliet: You can reformat the picture so that it s square Moderator: So it s smaller Juliet: smaller and it fits like in, within the square format that they have. So you know you can reformat it so that it fits within that. Moderator: Now that you have viewed and discussed the Facebook page, I want to talk to you about what you would like to see on the page. So, if you could help redesign it, what would you include to make it more appealing to the target audience? Deanna: I would include something on there, like readers favorite books in certain categories. Cause like everyone is saying you know after I finish a book, I don t know what to read next. So I usually go, you know, to the NY Times Bestseller, or whatever. Um, if I could just go and be like, okay, you know what are people s favorite books in this category or whatever. Juliet: If there was like a file. Colleen: Or even like something where you know, if you say oh, if you read this book, then you ll love this book. Juliet: Suggested readings Colleen: more suggestions, than specific books., so more book suggestions. Specifically from Beyond the Shelf? Or would you like to see a combination between articles and suggestions from the page itself? Juliet: I think combination Deanna: Yeah Colleen: I think a combination would work cause I like the articles but the articles don t really cater to a specific genre or a specific type of reader. It would be, you know, top 10 books of 2016 and you know whatever genre. Um, but I think specific suggestions are nice because you can actually see like someone actually read this book, and they really, really like it. And then if you personally recommend a book to me, and it s fantastic, then every time you recommend a book to me then I m gonna say, Oh, I m gonna read it for sure because the last one she said was so fantastic. So I think having personal recommendations too is good. Either from you or from like 20 P a g e

21 I said, from people on the other page who have actually read books and highly recommend them. I think that would be good to post every now and then. Deanna: Or a mixture of fiction and non-fiction. Moderator: hmm mmm Deanna: Or even like parenting books or something. You know, I just read this book about whatever and it was great. Juliet: One thing that confused me is underneath Beyond the Shelf Moderator: hmm mmm Juliet: on the title, it says book. So, at first I thought that Beyond the Shelf Moderator: a book Juliet: was a novel, that and this page was the novel or like, about that, and there was a discussion of the book. Um, so I think that maybe like book group or some kind of like social group to discuss books. Moderator: You mean change it to community? Juliet: Yep Moderator: There are only so many, um Juliet: Yeah, I don t know what the options are. Moderator: I think it would, maybe community would work better. Juliet: I think it would be better, yeah. Jill: If you got something about like a featured author or Jill: Like, you know how you do the book of the month or something. You could feature an author and then this author like this is the book she wrote or he wrote. If you like this author then recommend this book., so then like a spotlight. 21 P a g e

22 Jill: Yeah. Alright, we re almost done with our discussion but I would like to make sure you have had a chance to tell us everything you think someone who is making the content decisions should know. So anything you haven t said, that you kind of thought about that you think that person should know. *laughter* Juliet: I think that is a summary to everything we talked about. Moderator: Right. You guys had a really good discussion. Okay, so I m just kind of going to briefly summarize what you guys have told me to make sure that I ve kind of gained your insight so I can go back and make the changes to the page that you would like to see happen. So, you guys really like the logo just kind of make it smaller and expand it so you can see the full logo. Um, maybe just some tweaking of graphics and what not. You guys like the logo, you like the color, like the font and what not. You like the cover photo. You really enjoyed that. Uh, expand the description to make it more, what s the word. Juliet: Descriptive? *laughter* Moderator: More descriptive to the audience so they know what they re visiting. So change where it says book to community rather than a book. And then, um, you guys really like the articles. Um, so those are a good feature. Uh, add more stuff to book of the month. You guys really liked that so keep book of the month going as well as adding suggestions for other books outside of the book of the month. Um, bring suggestions in from the reading challenge and things like that. Um, reader s favorite books and author spotlights. Is there anything else you d like to add? Yes? Juliet: So with the events and like the book clubs and everything that you re putting up, and even the articles, I saw that there was a line or two before a couple of the articles. Moderator: hmm mmm Juliet: But I think that would be really helpful before the events as well, like when you re posting them. Like this is what we re doing for this month and I don t know if that s a feature on Facebook that you can do if like along with the, so maybe an additional post about Juliet: Or maybe an event Moderator: Cause I don t think you can do it when you add the event. 22 P a g e

23 Juliet: Okay Moderator: The description is in the inside of the event. Juliet: Got it Moderator: So you actually have to click on it. Juliet: Okay Moderator: So maybe a secondary post to piggyback it to say, hey the new book of the month is up or the reading challenge is up. Something of that effect. Juliet: Yeah, a way of sharing that link giving just a little precursor that invites people to click on it, maybe.. Anyone have anything else to add? No? Okay. I want to thank you for joining me today. I truly appreciate your time. And that concludes this focus group for today. 23 P a g e

24 Log of Revision Process- Focus Group #1 Revision 1. Changed category from Book to Community. This change was made to avoid confusion whether the page was about a community of book lovers, rather than about a book. Some focus group participants suggested this would confuse the audience of the purpose of the page. Before After 2. Updated the About section. This change was made so there is a clearer description about the purpose of the page. A few of the focus group participants did not see the description or thought it wasn t descriptive enough. This is the short description that shows on the landing page. The long description was also updated. Before After 24 P a g e

25 Revision 3. Changed profile picture. Before The logo for Beyond the Shelf was updated based on feedback from the focus group. The new logo replaced the old logo as the profile picture for the Facebook page. It was also made to fit within the confines of the profile picture thumbnail. The new logo now consists of only two colors, black and red. The graphics were flipped to the other direction and the two books under the name were removed. A line was added to the bottom to reflect the look of a shelf. The font was also changed. The participants thought the logo was good but felt it needed more depth to represent a book shelf. After 25 P a g e

26 Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (After Market Research) 26 P a g e

27 Market Research/Focus Group #2 On March 17, 2016 at 11:00 a.m., Washington State University conducted a focus group to gather feedback regarding a recruitment flyer for the Facebook page, Beyond the Shelf. The focus group session was conducted at the Education Center on Caserma Ederle Army installation in Vicenza, Italy with Jeannie Dimico as the moderator. Ms. Dimico recruited seven participants from the Vicenza Military Community Facebook page. The participants were all female and aged years. Five participants were Caucasian, one was Asian, and one was Latino. The focus group session lasted approximately 32 minutes. The participants discussed the concept of flyers used as advertisements, locations of where to post flyers, the Beyond the Shelf logo, and the layout and design of the flyer. Overall, data gained by Washington State University and Beyond the Shelf through the focus group proved to be valuable during the revision process. The recruitment flyer received extensive revision based on the ideas of the focus group participants. 27 P a g e

28 Beyond the Shelf Recruitment Flyer (Before Market Research) 28 P a g e

29 Cover Letter- Focus Group #2 March 17, 2015 Dear Focus Group Participants, My name is Jeannie Dimico and I am a graduate student in the Strategic Communication program at Washington State University. You have been invited to participate in a focus group for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. For this focus group you will be reviewing an advertisement for a Facebook page named Beyond the Shelf. The results of the focus group will provide me with feedback to determine if changes are needed to be made to the advertisement. Your participation in the focus group is completely voluntary. Completion of the focus group implies consent. Please note that all of your information will be kept confidential and used for research purposes only. I, and Washington State University, will not sell, publish, or distribute your personal information. I want to personally thank you for taking the time to participate in the focus group. Your responses are valuable to me and I appreciate your support. The focus group will be conducted at the Education Center on Caserma Ederle. Please arrive 15 minutes prior to the start time of 10:00 am. The receptionist will be able to direct you to the room once you arrive. Children are not allowed to be in the room as it will be recorded for the purpose of transcription. If you have any questions concerning the focus group, please contact me directly at jeannie.dimico@wsu.edu. Sincerely, Jeannie Dimico Strategic Communication Graduate Student Washington State University 29 P a g e

30 Moderator Guide- Focus Group #2 Moderator s Guide 1) Moderator welcomes participants and introduces the project Moderator: Hello, my name is Jeannie Dimico. I am a graduate student at Washington State University. I am conducting this focus group as part of an assignment for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. I want to thank you for agreeing to participate in this focus group today. GUIDELINES: Before we begin, I want to go over a few guidelines that will help us cover all the questions I have: I encourage you to share your opinions, whether they are positive or negative about your view of any of the topics that come up. There is no right or wrong answers. Your name will not be used in any of the reports based on the information we discuss today. I hope that you will feel comfortable speaking your mind regarding the topics we discuss today. Recording: Our discussion will be recorded (audio only) for transcription purposes. It also allows me to focus on you and your responses to the questions. Also, because of the recording it is very important that only one person speaks at a time. Before we begin, do you have any questions? I want you to feel comfortable talking to me and in front of the group, so I ll ask you a question or two when you introduce yourself. Group Discussion: 1. Please introduce yourself and tell us something you like to do in your free time. I ll start; you know my name is Jeannie. In my free time, I like to travel. (Relate to the participants if possible, for example if they like to read, ask them what kind of books, etc.) To begin our discussion, I d like to find out what you think about flyers in general. Do you see a lot of flyers in your daily life? Where do you usually the see flyers? Probe if necessary: television, Internet, radio, billboards, etc. Do you remember what the flyers are about? (What was the last flyer you remember seeing) 30 P a g e

31 What makes you remember those flyers? (give an idea of what attracts them to ads, color, content, etc.) 2. Try to think if you have ever seen a flyer about books or a book club. If so, do you remember what was the message of the flyer? Probe if necessary Where did you see the flyer? Television, Internet, etc. Do you remember the name of who sponsored it? View flyer pass out Here is a flyer about a Facebook page called Beyond the Shelf. Take a moment to look it over. 1. What do you think about the logo, colors, content? 2. What do you think of the name? 3. Would you visit the Facebook page if you saw it in the flyer? 4. What did you like the most about this flyer? 5. What did you like least about this flyer? 6. Now that you have viewed and discussed the flyer. If you could help create the next flyer, what would you tell the organization to do to make it more appealing to people to make them want to join? What would your perfect book club advertisement look like? 6. We are almost done with our discussion but I would like to make sure you have had a chance to tell us everything you think someone who is making the advertisement should know? Summary and Conclusion Moderator briefly summarizes the themes and responses for the participants: Does it seem like I have captured what you have told me today? Do you have anything else to add? Thank you for joining me today. I truly appreciate your time. 31 P a g e

32 Audio Recording- Focus Group #2 Topic: Beyond the Shelf Recruitment flyer Moderator: Jeannie Dimico Research Sponsor: Washington State University Date: March 17, 2016 Duration: 32:04 The audio recording of this focus group can be found at this link: Transcript- Focus Group #2 Moderator: Hello, my name is Jeannie Dimico. I am a graduate student at Washington State University. I am conducting this focus group as part of an assignment for my Professional Marketing Communication Management and Campaigns course. I want to thank you for agreeing to participate in this focus group today. Before we begin, I want to go over a few guidelines that will help us cover all the questions I have: I encourage you to share your opinions, whether they are positive or negative about your view of any of the topics that come up. There is no right or wrong answers. Your name will not be used in any of the reports based on the information we discuss today. I hope that you will feel comfortable speaking your mind regarding the topics we discuss. Our discussion will be recorded (audio only) for transcription purposes. It also allows me to focus on you and your responses to the questions. Also, because of the recording it is very important that only one person speaks at a time. Before we begin, do you have any questions? I want you to feel comfortable talking to me and in front of the group, so I ll ask you a question or two when you introduce yourself. I ll start first, my name is Jeannie. In my free time and I like to travel. Colleen. *laughter* Colleen: My name is Colleen and I like to cook. 32 P a g e

33 Ellen: My name is Ellen and in my free time I like to shop. Juliet: My name is Juliet and um, I like to go antique shopping. Isabella: My name is Isabella and I like to read. Deanna: My name is Deanna and I like to run. Jill: My name is Jill and I like to bake. Kristina: My name is Kristina and I like to work out. Moderator: Very nice. Okay. To begin our discussion, I d like to find out what you think about flyers in general. So, my first question is do you see a lot of flyers in your daily life? Jill: If you walk into the post office. Kristina: around the area Jill: ACS, the hotel Deanna: Yes, but I ignore them. Deanna: When they re posted, I ignore them. I still receive flyers, like from mailings. You know like my company used to do, so I get flyers in my mailbox, I look at it but if it s posted probably won t. Jill: If it s spouse sponsorship, you guys need to look at it. Sorry. *laughter* Kristina: I haven t seen that, Yeah, I don t.. Well, I know you guys mentioned that you ve seen, um, flyers hanging up around post. Is there any places more prominent that they are located? I know you mentioned the post office. Kristina: In front of the library. Moderator: There s the one outside of the library. Anywhere else? Juliet: Walking into the gym. They always have stuff posted.. Can anyone tell me anything about the last flyer you saw? 33 P a g e

34 Kristina: St. Patrick s Day but I don t know what it was about. Colleen: I saw a flyer for a house for sale. It was a really nice house that s what caught my attention. *Laughter* Kristina: Oh yeah, something about country dancing, now what makes you remember these flyers? I know you said it was a really nice house. Um, what are some of the elements of a flyer that grab your attention, that make you remember them. Kristina: The color, the images. Juliet: Good layout, sorry. Ellen: Sorry, I was going to say like a main wording, like a title. Murmured around the room: Yeah Ellen: whatever draws you in. Colleen: yeah, I like a flyer to be very simple because people will look at it and look away. So for me, I m the same way. I ll look at it, okay, look away. I ll look at it, if it says bowling; I don t really like bowling so I ll look away. If I look at it and it says cooking class, I m gonna hone in and say, okay I m gonna read this flyer. So I think it s important to have like big font, kind of in your face to say what this flyer is about. You don t have to have all the information but what this flyer is about so that people who are interested in it will pay more attention to it. Kristina: I agree. So something that grabs your attention and something that interests you. So if you re not interested in it, you re just gonna walk on by. Okay. Alright, so I passed out a flyer. This is a flyer about a Facebook page called Beyond the Shelf. If you want you can take a moment to look it over. If, um, you re ready, we can start discussing the flyer itself. Everyone ready? Murmured around the room: yes Moderator: So what do you think about the logo for Beyond the Shelf? This includes the colors, the shapes, font, things of that nature. Jill: To be honest, I like the font better on this one. 34 P a g e

35 Moderator: You like this font, okay Colleen: I like the logo but I feel like the wording Beyond the Shelf could be bigger Moderator: okay Colleen: Cause, I feel like the logo kinda takes over the words. Jill: yeah, that s true. Maybe the title could be over it and then like underneath it you could have like a small like shrink that, shrink the graphic and then make the wording bigger. Jill: So that would be like, you know like you said. It s a flyer it has to be big and bold.. Logos usually transcend over various mediums. You see them in flyers, you see them on billboards, television, Internet, uh websites, things of that nature. So, as of one component this logo needs to transcend all of these mediums. What would you say to do to make sure that that, that this is projected over those mediums? Do you say make the words bigger and the book smaller, just something to think about. Is that what I m gathering that it needs to be a little bit bigger than the book, the actual graphic? Colleen: I don t know if it needs to be bigger than the graphic but a little bit bigger than it already it is. Colleen: Um, because I just feel like the words kind of get lost., what about the placement? Do you think they should be placed in a different space, maybe underneath the books? Juliet: I was just about to say that Juliet: The um, if you have almost the same size font, but then maybe shrunk the books down so it s like a line across the bottom and then just above it is the logo, and then also a lot of um, people start looking at like apps now, like if there was, like if you were to develop an app and then you d just have this square. What could you just put on this square and I would see that as like maybe just these four books with like BTS as that kind of thing. 35 P a g e

36 Juliet: So, I think, I think that I like doing um the words at the bottom then shrinking the books on the top and then that way it is also a way to just let the smaller books logo transcend without the words as well. Deanna: I think you could get rid of a couple of the books too, a couple of the rectangles. Deanna: like make it simple. I think the best logos that I see are very simple. Deanna: So like the big thick grey one maybe and then like the thick red one. I don t know how it would look.. So what do you think of the colors? The black and the grey, and the red? Do you think they work together or would something else grab your attention, color wise? Juliet: I think with me when I think of books, I automatically think of older books so I think of neutral colors and like natural colors, I guess like green and like brown, um that s what I think of when I think of books but that could be way different than what someone else thinks of books but I think like ink on a page, on like a yellow page. Something like that., so maybe a more neutral color than the, cause this is kind of modern Juliet: hmm mmm Ellen: I like the red though cause it s sort of like a warm red. Ellen: And to me when I think of reading, I think of you know comfort, you know like a warm place I guess. Colleen: Yeah, I like the red in the logo though I don t know if I like all the red all over the flyer. Colleen: Cause I think, for me, I don t know if it s the same for everyone else but for me, this red is kind of muted and I feel like for a flyer to really grab someone s attention it really needs to be a little bit brighter or louder in some kind of way. Um, so I don t know, and I don t even have 36 P a g e

37 any ideas of what to change. I don t know if it would look better as a brighter red or if it would look better as a different color but. Deanna: I like the red, but I think the rest would need to be simplified. Moderator: The grey and the black Deanna: like just, yeah just like this box. So maybe consider some more neutral colors, greens, blues, and browns to go with the red. Jill: Unless, if you keep this red and on the back you have a parchment Moderator: A parchment color, okay. Jill: a parchment color on the back. Moderator: To where it looks more like paper. Okay. Anything else on kind of the logo and the colors? Jill: For the logo, I like the colors. Cause like you said it s modern and for me, it catches my eye. Colleen: I like the colors in the logo cause it is, it does look modern but also still kind of neutral. Colleen: And I understand what you re saying cause I know when I think of old books, you know like the dark green and the dark blue, and that, that red too. But if you re trying to go for more modern then I think the greys and the blacks are definitely more modern. A more modern version of that. Juliet: Can we ask what made you choose the colors. Moderator: I actually chose red, uh, because I when I think of old books, I think of red. If anyone has ever seen my kindle case, it is red and it looks like an old book. I love and I, I love like you said the greens, the blues, the reds. They re just very beautiful browns and things like that. I chose red because it was a brighter color. It was more eye catching than say for green. I also wanted to keep the other colors that went with it very neutral because when you design a logo, you don t want too many colors. You don t, you want something like I said that transcends different mediums. So you want to make sure that logo can go from paper to a t-shirt to a business card to a website to anything. This it has to go over that. So, um, the only other color I had considered was blue because blue, um, especially navy blue is a sign of education. It represents intelligence and wisdom and things like that 37 P a g e

38 so that was the only other color. But I didn t feel like that navy blue really stuck out as far as getting the attention for a book club. That is why I chose red. So, and I just went with black and grey. If anyone knows that Washington State University is crimson and grey. *Laughter* Moderator: So, I threw some grey in there and had some fun with it. Um, but if you would like to a different color like maybe browns to soften up the red. Juliet: No, I like your explanation.. Do you think the grey and the black though make it too stark or do you think it should be softened a bit? Because I totally get what you re saying. Juliet: Yeah. Moderator: That it, you know think of antique books and things like that. But, I m also trying to appeal to the younger generation who uses Facebook all the time and need something that catches their eye. They re on their kindles, they re on their ipads, they re on their phones and things like that. Juliet: Right. Moderator: They don t see old books anymore. So, um, that was another reason why I chose more modern colors. With that being said, how do you feel about the colors now? *laughter* Juliet: I definitely appreciate the red more now. Moderator: okay Juliet: The background, I like to know the meaning behind logos. Moderator: And what I m kind of getting at is I want people to look at it and like it so, um, without knowing the meaning. I mean I can t explain that to everyone. Juliet: Right. Moderator: But if you were to just look at it, would it catch your eye? That s what I m trying to get to. Juliet: I think one thing that I think maybe Deanna had said maybe simplifying the books Moderator: uh, huh 38 P a g e

39 Juliet: I think that if you did take, maybe take out these two books and then move this down to where they take the place of the books. Juliet: But the words are holding up the books. Moderator: Gotcha Juliet: It would also be nice. I just look down at it and that could work. Moderator: I like that Deanna: You could put the words on the edge of the book too. Like make um this bigger and put it down there. Moderator: on the bindings? I actually tried to do that and it became too cluttered so when you try to move it to a different medium it can get smushed in printing. And becomes very, you don t want, like you said logos need to be simple. That was getting too intricate where printing would be a mess. Deanna: the BTS might work Moderator: Yeah. And speaking of BTS, that kind of leads me to the name. Um, my other focus group gave some suggestions about the name, so I kind of want to get your thoughts on what you think it should be named. If you like Beyond the Shelf or if you think it needs an expansion of some sort. Ellen: I like Beyond the Shelf. I think you get an idea of what it is but it s not like drilling it into exactly, you know it leaves a little bit to the imagination I guess. Colleen: I think that when you compare it with the full logo, Beyond the Shelf is a good name because like she said, it doesn t give you exactly everything that it is about but enough to peak your interest so if you like books, you can see that it s a stack of books. I wonder what it is so then you start asking questions about it. So, I think that the name with the logo is good. Juliet: I think paired with attention book lovers; I think that Beyond the Shelf is more easily understood than it was on the Facebook page.. Now, um, would you visit it, the Facebook page after seeing this flyer? Does it grab your attention enough to say, Hey, I like books? I m going to visit this Facebook page.? Deanna: No Moderator: No *laughs* Why? 39 P a g e

40 Deanna: Um, I think it s just; it s too busy and clustered. So, it would take me two minutes to read it which, you know is already tough. Deanna: But also, I have to get all the way down here before I actually see what it s about. Like I think this needs to be more prominent down here. Deanna: This can go totally. Colleen: Yeah Deanna: I would take away attention and just put like, book lovers, cause you re trying to grab their attention. You don t need to say it again.. Deanna: And, I like this. I like this little description too.. Deanna: So, I would focus on these two things cause I look at this and all I see is, attention book lovers and Facebook page. And I don t really know, I don t get a sense of what it s about right away, you know what I mean?. So what would you think if you, if I swapped those two sections and made the invite smaller on the bottom, then put the information about it in the middle in larger print? Deanna: Yeah Kristina: Yeah Deanna: I think that would work. Moderator: You think that would work better? Colleen: I think, also, attention book lovers, well if you took out attention and just put book lovers. That could be in a larger print as well. Jill: Yeah Colleen: Cause that s really your attention grabber. Kristina: Yeah. 40 P a g e

41 Colleen: Then, cause like she said, this whole thing in the middle. You could probably just do away with, and then this is almost the same font as what s on top. So really, it kind of all gets jumbled together. Deanna: Yes. Colleen: And people will look at it and say too long, they don t read. Deanna: Yep. Kristina: Right. Colleen: So, I think that if you take away this, people are still going to know it s a Facebook page because you have the Facebook page link. And you could say something simple like, like our Facebook page or something like that. Ellen: Right. *murmured Yeah around the room* Colleen: Find us on Facebook or just put a Facebook logo. Kristina: yeah yeah yeah Colleen: Cause that s what people really do nowadays. They just put a Facebook logo and that can really clear up all this space to make this bigger for people to read. Kristina: Yeah, I have to agree. Deanna: And you could even take the community of book lovers, up where it says, Attention book lovers and just change it. Book Lovers Community and do away with that whole, I mean maybe. *laughter* Deanna: jazzier words or something. Juliet: I also think to simplify it; you could really just make it one column, like it doesn t need to be the two different columns. Moderator: Right. Juliet: Um, to, I mean if you like did, like two or if you made the actual logo, or the actual flyer just like half of this page. And it was like a longer flyer, one longer flyer where you could fit all 41 P a g e

42 of it in one column instead of having it side by side. Cause it almost, um, like this information gets lost since it s not in here almost. Colleen: So you think people will go because I think people will sometimes go to one or the other. They ll see this and see two separate sides and they ll read this side or they ll read this side., now did anyone notice the effect of where the logo is on Beyond the Shelf? That is actually a book spine and this supposed to look like a book open. Colleen: I just noticed that. Kristina: I didn t notice that. Colleen: I just noticed that on the side of the pages. If you can t, cause it s hard to see it up there but on the paper, you can see that it s like pages here. Ellen: I noticed it here. Kristina: Ohhhhh, I didn t notice that. Ellen: but then I thought it was a closed book here. Moderator: Now, would you rather see the book as kind of the background with all of the information or just the flyer with maybe, as Juliet had said, something more narrow. Put the logo on the top or somewhere on the bottom with the information. Maybe do sponsored by, you know, Beyond the Shelf at the bottom with the information. And then kind of Book Lovers and then information and make it one big flyer. Or do you like the effect of the book; does that grab your attention with the red and what not? Or Colleen: I like Moderator: What would you suggest? Colleen: this effect, cause like she said this looks like the front of a book. Moderator: hmm mmm Colleen: so maybe if you turned it this way and made the whole thing the front of the book and you can still fit everything on there in one wider column.. Kristina: I agree cause I had no idea what that was, sorry. 42 P a g e

43 Moderator: It s okay. *laughter* Moderator: Nope, All of your opinions matter. Thank you. Okay, so anything else, um, comment wise as far as color, where everything goes? Colleen: Now that I notice that it s a book this red does make more sense to me.. Colleen: I know earlier I had said that I don t get this red side but now it makes so much more sense. So, yeah the color is good if you keep with the book theme then I like the color.. Deanna: Yeah, you could even do like pull out one like aspect of the book club, like, like book challenge or monthly book club and do by Beyond the Shelf. You know what I mean?. Deanna: You know make it look really like a club, Colleen: Now, even if you could fit it, you could say like, like let s say you were putting these flyers out on April first, you could say, April book of the month is this book. Moderator: Uh huh, okay. Colleen: Then people might see it and say like, oh, this place recommended this book for me and if they read it then they like it, then they ll more likely to go back to your page and say, I like that book.. Ellen: I think someone mentioned bringing in like parchment color in the background to make it more like a page. I like that idea., maybe soften the um Colleen: Make it lighter Kristina: I like that idea too. Moderator: Alright. Jill, you have something to say? *laughter* 43 P a g e

44 Jill: Orange, but if you re gonna keep, like this, this description it s like a book club but you get to stay home. I like that but you might want to simplify it.. Jill: Or you could be like virtual book club, um, just Kristina: from the comfort of your own home. Jill: exactly.. Jill: It s kind of a little wordy. I know for me when I read a flyer, I just wanna duh duh duh, okay that s it. Colleen: I just pick out key, yeah. To be honest when I m usually reading flyers it s because I m standing in line somewhere. Jill: Yeah. Colleen: And I don t have anything else to look at, so as far as placement of flyers the post office is great because you re always standing in line. Jill: Yeah. Kristina: Right. Colleen: And I mean the gym, I just walk right by them because there is never a line to go into the gym. *laughter* Colleen: So, um as far as placement, somewhere where people are gonna be waiting around in line like the post office, like the flyer for the house I told you about. I was in the teacher s lounge waiting for my food to heat up. So, I was just waiting around reading the bulletin board because I didn t have anything else to do. So, putting flyers in a place where people will have nothing better to do than to look at them is probably your best bet to get people s attention.. Jill: Either that, or you can like, um, bold words that will catch people. Like for me, book, pajama, home, alright. *laughter* Colleen: yeah pajamas 44 P a g e

45 Jill: cooking, baking, you know. If you bold those words and catch their, you know their Moderator: attention Jill: attention, then you know they ll read into it and be like what s this. Moderator: okay. Alright, any other suggestions? Okay, so what did you like most about the flyer? What aspect, um, that you liked, that you would definitely like to see come back? Juliet: the bullet points about what it s about. Moderator: bullet points. Colleen: I like the book lovers at the top because I think that s perfect because that s your target audience and that s who you re trying to, and if a book lover sees that then they re gonna say, I m a book lover too. Kristina: I think so too. Just a little bigger than this. Deanna: Yeah, I agree. I like the book lovers at the top. And if you posted it at the library then it s even better. Ellen: I like the specifics of this list, like you know what you re gonna find there, like there ll be reviews and suggestions., so what did you dislike most? That you would like to see go away. Deanna: All the clutter.. Colleen: I would say the split down the middle. Moderator: the split pages, okay. Ellen: I think the part that you re invited to the page. I don t think you need it.. Jill: Visually the white, it s just there. Like, ehh. If you re gonna do that, then soften the edges or something.. Colleen: Put it on off-white paper or something like that. 45 P a g e

46 Jill: Yeah. Juliet: So, I think I might ve missed the book idea with the pages so this is supposed to be the front of the book and then this is supposed to be inside the book? Moderator: yes. Juliet: Okay. Uh, that s almost. I didn t notice it at first but it doesn t really make sense how it is, like it doesn t look like a book is opening which is how you wanted it to look, right? Moderator: uh huh Kristina: That s what I was thinking about too. Juliet: But it looks like one book is sitting next to like a notepad or something.. Juliet: Instead of it opening which I think is really hard to make it look like it s opening without doing some kind of like angle somewhere. Kristina: Which is why I think if you just do the book itself. Juliet: hmm mmm, would you guys like to see the book in red again or would you like to see it, I know we mentioned maybe um a parchment color or a softer color? Do you think that would be more attention grabbing or leave it red and just change the font colors to be more eye catching? Jill: If you leave the cover red and the background be more like neutral but not white. Moderator: Uh huh. Jill: Even the black so that the red will pop out. That would work better. Colleen: Yeah. Yeah, I like the red if you re gonna keep this the cover of a book because that is kind of what I think about when I think about books, a deep red, old book. Jill: And that will stay with your logo theme too. Colleen: Right, I think if you were to change the color of the book it would clash with what you have up here. 46 P a g e

47 . Anything else? Okay, now I want you to give me some of your creative juices. If you could create the next flyer for Beyond the Shelf to invite people to come and look at their Facebook page, what would your perfect flyer look like? What would be the elements that you would include? I know we ve touched on what you like about this, but is there anything in here that you really, really liked that you would take to that one or is there anything that you would add or is there anything that you would take away? Jill: Like Deanna said, just simplify it.. Colleen: Simplify it. Make the words bigger, cause if you simplify it and you take out this then and you know, take out kind of this and make it all one page, you can make the words bigger and then, one it s easier to see from far away. Two, it s just easier to read. You can go through everything quickly.. Deanna: Honestly, if you just put at the top, Book Lovers join our, join our virtual book and then on the bottom sponsored by or Beyond the Shelf. Like us on Facebook. Colleen: I think that that s good if it says Book Lovers and even if you want to add in something like, you know, join our book club from the comfort of your home or something like that. Put your bullet points, and then your logo at the bottom. Like us on Facebook.. Juliet: Do you, when it says monthly book club and then in parentheses virtual. I think you could just cut out monthly and just do virtual book club.. Juliet: Um, that should simplify it a bit. Colleen: And even if you put, book lovers, join our virtual book club from the comfort of your own home, you don t even have to put virtual book club down here. Moderator: Right. Colleen: cause it s already in here. Moderator: that s just one thing you can cut Colleen: So, you can kind of edit out the redundancies.. 47 P a g e

48 Deanna: And you could still include you know book reviews, reading challenge, book suggestions just, just much smaller. Yeah, cause a book club doesn t necessarily mean that you have to be reading a book and discussing it. It s just a community, you know. Jill: And for some reason, I like flyers that go that way. *laughter* Jill: I don t know. Moderator: You like portrait instead of landscape. Okay. Jill: Like, I just like it. Colleen: I think it s because all through school we ve had these papers. Kristina: Yeah, I do too. I was thinking the same exact thing. Colleen: Yeah. Kristina: So you can put your picture that way.. Deanna: I think simplifying too then you can use the same design for a lot of different formats. If you wanted to make something smaller, like it s this size, if it s simple then it s fine, you can shrink it down. You can share it on Facebook, you can do whatever. You don t have to reinvent the wheel. You already have one. Colleen: And then you can easily do add-ins, if you wanted to do, join our virtual book club, April s book is this, you can just add in a line, April s book. Here s the title, here s the author. It s easy once you simplified to just kind of add in little things specifically.. Jill: Wait, one of those flyers that have the information like book lovers or book of the month and then you have like those, you know you cut out, and take with you. Moderator: the strips. Kristina: Oh yeah Moderator: Yeah, okay. Deanna: That s actually a great idea. I used to take photos to remember them. Group: Yeah. 48 P a g e

49 . Colleen: I always take the whole flyer. *laughter* Colleen: If I m like I need to remember this. Kristina: I take them too. Colleen: Cause I don t, cause I just have, uh, I just have a flip phone. I m so ashamed of it, it s a flip phone. It doesn t even have a camera., so maybe design something with the little cut-offs that you can just rip. Maybe put the little logo on it with the Facebook page on there. Colleen: Yeah Kristina: I used to babysit back in the day, and had my name and number, dude, just take it., Okay, I like it. Colleen: Even if they take it and throw it in their wallet and forget about it, they re gonna be cleaning out their wallet and they re gonna find it. And they re gonna say oh my gosh I forgot to like this thing and then they re gonna do it. Jill: They already have an outline thing on Mac. Moderator: They have it in, they have templates. Jill: Yeah Moderator: I ve seen em. *laughter* Moderator: Ok, so we re almost done with our discussion, um, I just want to make sure that you ve had a chance to voice all your opinions, all your likes, your dislikes, and what not about the flyer. So, I m just going to go over what we discussed about. Um, we want simpler is better. Shorten the wording. Make it bigger, and the font bigger. Make it portrait size. Fit on one page, get rid of the split. And, make sure we keep some of the bullets, maybe make them a little smaller but um, make sure we that have that information. Remove the invitation all together. Remove attention. And this is our perfect flyer. And maybe even add the little strips on the bottom, um, for additional flyers. So, so does that about sum it all up. 49 P a g e

50 Kristina: yep. Anything you want to add? Any last minute suggestions? Okay. I want to thank you for joining me today, and I truly appreciate your time. And this concludes our focus group. Group: Yay! 50 P a g e

51 Log of Revision Process- Focus Group #2 1. The orientation of the flyer was changed from landscape to portrait. This change was made to make the flyer more universal, as most flyers are in portrait orientation. This removed the split pages and two sided information sections. The book image was kept as the primary focus of the flyer. 2. The template of the flyer was altered to include tear-off information strips at the bottom. The participants of the focus group thought this would be a great feature for people to remember the Facebook page. The background was changed from a black/grey gradient to pure white. 3. Changed Attention: Book Lovers to only Book Lovers. The color was changed to pure white color and the font was enlarged to be the focus. The font was also created with word art to make it stand out from the rest of the type. 4. The bullet points were removed but were repurposed on the spine of the book image with a darker grey color. The focus group participants liked the bullet point information because it offered additional information about the purpose of the page. They were placed on the spine to create balance with the rest of the flyer but not to be the focus. 5. The invitation was changed to include the new slogan, from the comfort of your own home as suggested by the focus group participants. They felt the previous flyer contained too much information so it was simplified to a clearer definition about the Facebook page and its purpose. The color was changed to a light grey/silver color and the font type stayed the same but the size was decreased. 6. The new logo was placed at the bottom with a Facebook logo so it would be more recognizable to the audience. The new logo was created based on the feedback from both focus groups. The new logo now consists of only two colors, black and red. The graphics were flipped to the other direction and the two books under the name were removed. A line was added to the bottom to reflect the look of a shelf. The participants thought the logo was good but felt it needed more depth to represent a book shelf. 7. The tear-off strips were formatted to include the new logo, name, and invitation to join the Facebook page. Overall, the flyer was simplified to attract attention and interest in the Facebook page. The focus group participants were adamant that only basic information was needed, as most people don t have a lot of time to read lots of information. However, it should also be interesting enough that people will want to join the page. 51 P a g e

52 Beyond the Shelf Recruitment Flyer (After Market Research) 52 P a g e