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Market Research Case Study

ComStrat 565: Final Project

Jeannie Dimico

Washington State University

Spring 2016

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Table of Contents

Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Market Research/Focus Group #1 .............................................................................................. 4

Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (Before Market Research) ......................................... 5

Cover Letter .................................................................................................................... 6

Moderator Guide ............................................................................................................. 7

Audio Recording ............................................................................................................. 9

Transcript ........................................................................................................................ 9

Log of Revision Process ............................................................................................... 24

Beyond the Shelf Facebook page (After Market Research) ......................................... 26

Market Research/Focus Group #2 ............................................................................................ 27

Recruitment Flyer (Before Market Research) ............................................................... 28

Cover Letter .................................................................................................................. 29

Moderator Guide ........................................................................................................... 30

Audio Recording ........................................................................................................... 32

Transcript ...................................................................................................................... 32

Log of Revision Process ............................................................................................... 51

Recruitment Flyer (After Market Research) ................................................................. 52

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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 24-

45. 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.

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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 24-45 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.

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Beyond the Shelf Facebook page

(Before Market Research)

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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: https://www.facebook.com/Beyond-the-

Shelf-884637391651524/

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

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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?

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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.

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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:

https://soundcloud.com/jdimico/focus-group-1

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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay, 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

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay

Jill: I like um, you have a link to your other website that you have and it has your reading

challenge.

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Moderator: The reading challenge from 2016. Okay, anyone else?

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay, 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*

Moderator: Okay, 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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

Juliet: Sorry, if the beyond or if like the B and the T lined up with the red as well.

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Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay. 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

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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.

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

Jill: The details that I did find though, it was on the web, the, your other web page.

Moderator: The link?

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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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.”

Moderator: Okay

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

Moderator: Okay

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

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

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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

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay 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 31st, 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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay. 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

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay. 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.”

Moderator: Okay

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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: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

Colleen: Or even like something where you know, if you say “oh, if you read this book, then

you’ll love this book.

Moderator: Okay

Juliet: Suggested readings

Colleen: more suggestions, than specific books.

Moderator: Okay, 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

21 | P a g e

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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

Jill: If you got something about like a featured author or

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay, so then like a spotlight.

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Jill: Yeah

Moderator: Okay. 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

Moderator: Okay, 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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay. 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.

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Log of Revision Process- Focus Group #1

Revision Before

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.

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

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Revision Before

3. Changed profile picture.

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

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Beyond the Shelf Facebook page

(After Market Research)

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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 24-45 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.

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Beyond the Shelf Recruitment Flyer

(Before Market Research)

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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

30 | P a g e

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)

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• 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.

32 | P a g e

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:

https://soundcloud.com/jdimico/focus-group-2

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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay. 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.

Moderator: Okay. Can anyone tell me anything about the last flyer you saw?

34 | P a g e

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*

Moderator: Okay

Kristina: Oh yeah, something about country dancing

Moderator: Okay, 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

Moderator: Okay

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.

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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.

Moderator: Okay

Jill: So that would be like, you know like you said. It’s a flyer it has to be big and bold.

Moderator: Okay. 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.

Moderator: Okay

Colleen: Um, because I just feel like the words kind of get lost.

Moderator: Okay, 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

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

36 | P a g e

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.

Moderator: Okay

Deanna: I think you could get rid of a couple of the books too, a couple of the rectangles.

Moderator: Okay

Deanna: like make it simple. I think the best logos that I see are very simple.

Moderator: Okay

Deanna: So like the big thick grey one maybe and then like the thick red one. I don’t know how

it would look.

Moderator: Okay. 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.

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay

Ellen: And to me when I think of reading, I think of you know comfort, you know like a warm

place I guess.

Moderator: Okay

Colleen: Yeah, I like the red in the logo though I don’t know if I like all the red all over the flyer.

Moderator: Okay

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

37 | P a g e

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

Moderator: Okay. 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.

Moderator: Okay

Colleen: I like the colors in the logo cause it is, it does look modern but also still kind of neutral.

Moderator: Okay

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

38 | P a g e

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.

Moderator: Okay. 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

39 | P a g e

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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay. 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?

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay.

Deanna: And, I like this. I like this little description too.

Moderator: Okay.

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?

Moderator: Okay. 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.

41 | P a g e

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…

Moderator: Okay.

*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

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay.

Kristina: I agree cause I had no idea what that was, sorry.

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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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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?

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

Ellen: I think someone mentioned bringing in like parchment color in the background to make it

more like a page. I like that idea.

Moderator: Okay, maybe soften the um…

Colleen: Make it lighter

Kristina: I like that idea too.

Moderator: Alright. Jill, you have something to say?

*laughter*

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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.

Moderator: Okay.

Jill: Or you could be like virtual book club, um, just…

Kristina: from the comfort of your own home.

Jill: exactly.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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

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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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

Moderator: Okay, so what did you dislike most? That you would like to see go away.

Deanna: All the clutter.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

Jill: Visually the white, it’s just there. Like, ehh. If you’re gonna do that, then soften the edges or

something.

Moderator: Okay.

Colleen: Put it on off-white paper or something like that.

46 | P a g e

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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

Moderator: Okay, 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.

Moderator: Okay

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.

47 | P a g e

Moderator: Okay. 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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay.

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.

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Moderator: Okay.

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.

Moderator: Okay, 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

Moderator: Okay

Kristina: I used to babysit back in the day, and had my name and number, dude, just take it.

Moderator: Okay, 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.

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Kristina: yep

Moderator: Okay. 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!

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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.

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Beyond the Shelf Recruitment Flyer

(After Market Research)