Saskatchewan Bison News: An Industry Quarterly with Attitude

Source: Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food

Pick up a copy of Saskatchewan Bison News and it’ll make an impression right away. There is something about the layout, the look and feel of the publication that makes it stand out.

The Saskatchewan Bison Association (SBA) has had a newsletter since the organization got going in the early 1990s, explains Jim Warren, executive director of the SBA and editor of Saskatchewan Bison News. The purpose of the publication was to keep members informed on industry developments, and to act as an extension arm in terms of communicating the most current production, marketing and management information to members.

“About two years ago," he says, "we determined there were things we could do to develop greater effectiveness within the organization. We had developed a strategic plan. I’d joined the association in January of 2004 and I had had some experience in communications and publishing. I presented a plan to the board that suggested we could increase readability and attract advertisers if we made a concerted effort to improve the quality of the publication.”

Warren and his colleagues reviewed the editorial plan and came up with the concept of breaking the publication down into several regular sections that would appear in each edition.

“The publication always begins with the hot button issue in the industry. Anything from border issues to announcements of BSE support programs and all news developments in the industry," he explains. “In every edition, we follow that with an analysis of bison markets right across North America and here at home, and then we try to follow that up with a marketing-related news story, like European Union trade barriers. We have a feature piece on the current important issue to the industry and we address that issue in detail.”

Good focus is key, believes Warren, and the right mix of stories is also important.

“It’s a fast-paced world now," he says. "Many folks need jobs to support their agricultural habits. There is not always the time and opportunity to read a longer piece, so we try to keep stories short, but we always have a good meat-and-potatoes piece in each issue. Then we try to have a health and production issue piece: for example, the use of different vaccines or new research that is coming out on production.

We follow that up in the back section with news about members, especially those who are doing new and novel things in the area of marketing. Then we talk about our own events, the people who attended, and exciting things that may have happened. We also give information about which numbers people need to call. We keep them handy, and we list coming events.”

At the moment, Saskatchewan Bison News has a circulation of about 550. It goes to SBA members and a number of industry stakeholders: people in the meatpacking and processing business, and people in the bison industry across North America. For Warren and his colleagues, the extra effort the publication requires is well worth the results.

“Look at a typical association newsletter. The way they do it is they have the president’s report; then they have the executive director’s report, then they’ll have the committee reports. What tends to happen is they all pretty much repeat each other. I just thought, 'let’s be like a magazine and talk about the issues!' If the president is the main spokesperson on a particular issue, we’ll use him as a resource, but I try to get as many other members and people from the organization involved as possible.”

Warren recalls how people would only occasionally purchase advertising before the publication was revamped.

“Sometimes, someone wanted to help out the organization and bought a sponsorship type of ad. Sometimes people had things they wanted to sell and knew this publication was going out. By improving the look, we increase readability and retention. If we put out a good product, chances are that people will want to keep it around. I wanted to make it really inviting. At the same time, we believed that, if we improved the look, it would improve our chances to attract advertisers. As a result, in the first year, the new Saskatchewan Bison News broke even. It turns out the improvements have paid for themselves.”

For more information, contact:

Jim Warren
Executive Director
Saskatchewan Bison Association
(306) 585-6304
www.saskbison.com