15 local printers power up Salmat SME push

East coast printers are already pumping out letterbox collateral for the launch of Salmat online marketing portal, with printers in Canberra, South Australia and Western Australia set to follow shortly.

At today’s beta launch of its marketing site, which will allow SMEs (small-to-medium enterprises) to design, print and distribute marketing material from January 2011, David Besson, chief executive officer of Salmat’s targeted media solutions division revealed that 15 printers across the eastern seaboard were currently printing material for small businesses who are trialling the portal.

“We set a standard people had to meet to be part of a [printing] panel,” he said. “This type of industry has a quick turnaround and we tailored the panel to suit that.”

Pictured: Looking to the letter box: David Besson (left) with Grant Harrod at today's launch, Sydney Opera House.

Business owners using the portal can expect a two-week turnaround from logging the job through to distribution. Both offset and digital print capabilities are available for users.

According to Besson, printers within Canberra, South Australia and Western Australia will commence work within the next 30 days. “We won’t have anymore than 30 printers [in total],” he said.

CEO, Grant Harrod, told Print21 that the letterbox is not only one of the most effective ways of reaching consumers, but it also means keeping presses ticking. He asserted that printing would stay local.

“We’d like to create demand for the printing industry,” he said. “Print is one of the most effective forms of communication.”

Salmat first flagged its intentions of launching the marketing portal earlier this year. “The SME market is an enormous market for Salmat to provide a business model that relieves the pain for them and makes local marketing easy,” Harrod said.

He believes the portal’s most exciting says lie ahead of it and may eventually offer services outside of print, with SMS, email and promotions all being considered.