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Posts Tagged ‘Promotional USB’

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Stylish Branded USB Speakers

Friday, July 17th, 2009

If branded USB Memory sticks are not doing it for you or your client then what about these cracking portable stereo’s!

speakers.  Available in Blue, White, Black, Silver and Red. They are palm sized units that lend themselves nicely to branding.

Branded Speakers

Branded Speakers

They’re not just a novelty product either as these speakers really do kick out some excellent sounds. The speakers “pop” apart but are held together by magnetic clasps when travelling. They run off rechargeable batteries which provide a good 6 hours of music. Suitable for anything with a standard 3.5mm audio jack so your i-pod, MP3 player, PC, mobile phone etc.

Speaker output is an impressive 4W. Featurers a retracatble cable and charging indicators.

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Stylish Branded USB Speakers

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What’s The Most Popular Storage Capacity for Promotional USB Memory Sticks?

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Branded USB Memory sticks are becoming evermore popular for the transfer and storage of large amounts of data. This popularity is mainly due to their compact size, ease of use and the dramatic reduction in price over the past few years.

One of the key decisions to make when purchasing Branded USB Memory sticks in the storage capacity.

Before delving into which capacity to select a short technical overview as is useful to understand the measurement terminology used when defining memory capacity.

Electronic data is measured in ‘bytes’. Multiples of these are:

•      1 Kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes

•      1 Megabyte (MB) is equal to 1,024 Kilobytes (1,048,576 bytes)

•      1 Gigabyte (GB) is equal to 1,024 Megabytes (1,073,741,824 bytes)

Branded USB Memory sticks range from 32MB to 16GB. They double up in size from 32MB:

•      32MB (almost obsolete)
•      64MB
•      128MB
•      256MB
•      512MB
•      1GB
•      2GB
•      4GB
•      8GB
•      16GB

You need to be aware that all Promotional USB Memory sticks need a small amount of capacity to allow it them work. As a general rule of thumb around 5% of the storage capacity will be used by the Memory Stick to manage how it stores the data on the stick.

So, how much data can each stick hold? The amount of data that can be stored depends on the type of the data, such as MP3 audio files, digital photos, word files etc. and the quality for example the resolution of photos.  As a benchmark 512MB memory stick would typically store about 250 photos.

When deciding what capacity to select for your Branded USB Memory sticks you need to consider the following.

• What is the objective of your Promotional USB Memory stick campaign. If it is to provide specific data or information that is pre-loaded, then the size should match the amount of data to be loaded. If the requirement is to allow the user to use the Memory stick as a promotional keepsake, then there needs to be sufficient headroom over and above any data that you may wish to load.

• What budget do you have? The higher the capacity the higher the price. However, the price differential between a 64MB and 1GB is no longer that great.

• The market for flash memory is volatile and is driven by supply and demand. Therefore, it is worth checking if there are any special offers on different USB Memory capacity. For example it has been know for 512MB to be cheaper than 256MB.

• If the Branded USB Memory sticks are gifts for prospects or existing key clients, you need to consider the perceived value of the item you are giving. So if budget is limited it may be prudent to buy less of higher capacity Branded USB Memory sticks.

Based on the above criteria, currently the most popular capacity for Branded USB Memory sticks is 1GB, but watch this space!

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What’s The Most Popular Storage Capacity for Promotional USB Memory Sticks?

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Top Ten Pitfalls Of Buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

Buying Branded USB Memory sticks should be a painless process and for the most part it is. However, there are numerous examples of where things have gone wrong – some real horror stories! However, the good news is that by asking the right questions and selecting the right supplier you can avoid most of these issues.

This guide illustrates the top ten pitfalls of buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks and how to avoid them.

Find a reputable supplier

There are many suppliers providing Branded USB Memory Sticks As with any industry the quality of the organisations varies widely. Whilst normal due diligence is always required, here are a few tips to help you with the process:

• It is always good practice to run a credit check to make sure your supplier is in good financial health. This is more important if you are being asked to pay upfront for the Branded USB Memory sticks.

• Reputation speaks volumes. Don’t be afraid to ask for references and testimonials from their existing customer base and make contact. If they have provided excellent service levels, they will not be embarrassed to share their successes.

• Make sure there are full contact details on the web site including address and contact telephone numbers – and phone them!

• Ensure they are working from a business premises. There is a growing trend for individuals pertaining to be companies are working from home without the infrastructure to support you if things go wrong. An easy way to check this is by using Google Earth.

Hidden costs

When stating your requirements to a supplier be specific about your needs and ensure that they are all met by studying your quotation carefully. Ask for terms and conditions and be aware of payment terms and delivery date promises. For example some companies will charge extra for print and origination, so ensure that these are covered in the quotation.

Quality of Chipset / Housing

If you quote sounds to good to be true – then it probably is! The core cost of any Branded USB Memory Stick is made up of the USB Housing and USB Flash Chip components. There are ways of saving costs on these buy using poor quality housing and reconditioned USB Memory chips.   Both carry reputation risk for you or your client if things go wrong. So ensure you ask for a sample to check the housing quality and your supplier provides new branded A Grade chipsets such as Samsung, Hynix, Micron or Intel.

It is also worth asking what the manufacturer’s Quality Assurance testing procedure is.

Dataloads

To autorun or not to autorun that is the question! Many clients are faced with the dilemma of whether they should add an autorun facility to their promotional USB Promotional Memory Sticks.

An autorun facility allows users to insert a USB Branded Memory Stick and for the computer to automatically run a programme e.g. a movie file.

The advantages of this facility is that it ensures the user is presented with the information the client wants them to see, without having to find the information themselves. This makes is a very intuitive process and ensures the information on the USB Memory Stick is delivered. However there are some hidden pitfalls:

• Nuisance factor. If one of the objectives is to ensure that the USB Promotional Memory Stick is a keepsake that the end user will access on a regular basis then its worth bearing in mind that every time the user wants to access or save a document they will have to run through the dataload programme. Fine for the first few times, but thereafter they may find this an irritation and relegate the memory stick deep into a draw!

• Autoruns will not work on Win 98 or 2000 operating systems – beware there are still many users out there with these systems. You will also need to ensure that the appropriate code is written into any autorun for it to work on Mac operating systems.

• Some corporate firewalls restrict autoruns, so the danger is that the end user will never see the data.

There is a middle way, why not consider loading the data onto the USB Branded Memory Stick with an icon labelled ‘Click Here To Start’ and allow the user to access the data when they want.  This data can be protected so it would not be deleted, but overcomes may of the issues detailed above.

Proofs/screenshots

Many suppliers will mock up a visual of what the Promotional USB Memory Stick will look like before production. This does not always match the finished product. So ensure that the proof carries the colour pantone references and size of the logo. Some suppliers will provide a picture of a printed pre-production so you know exactly what you are going to get.

Shipping / Customs

Almost all Branded USB Memory sticks are manufactured in the Far East and as such need to pass through both Chinese / Taiwanese and UK Customs. For the vast majority of orders this is pretty seamless process. However, any consignment can be pulled for inspection and customs may request additional information. If a global brand is printed on the Promotional USB Memory sticks they may ask for written authentication from the end clients that the goods are not counterfeit.  Either way a custom check will delay your order from a few days to up to 3 weeks!

Returning goods / Warranties

Things go wrong! The mark of a good supplier is how they manage these issues. All Customised USB Memory Sticks should carry at least a 12 month warranty. Ensure your supplier stipulates this as part of their Terms and Conditions.  However, if the items need replacing it make take several weeks for the Branded USBs to be returned to the manufacturer and repaired or replaced.

Poor Packaging

Poor quality packaging can ruin a great looking USB Memory Stick. In particular the insert that holds the USB memory stick within a box needs to be of the same shape and size of the USB Branded Memory drive. Again the only solution is to have a sample of a box before you order.

Delivery Timeframe

Do not leave the ordering of Branded USB Memory sticks to the last minute unless you want to pay a premium for rush fees and limit your choice of what is available in the UK. Allow at least 2, ideally 3 weeks, from providing your supplier with the artwork, which kicks off the production process.

Quality Of Print

The printing of logos onto your Branded Memory stick is a real art form that at best makes a perfect reproduction of your logo at worst makes it look like real mess and something you would not want to associate your brand to. The typical printing process is spot or screen-printing. This is great for simple logos with up to 4 colours. However it cannot print tints, tones, complex logos or a logo with many colours. A new full colour printing process is now evolving allowing greater printing capabilities. Again if time permits ask for a pre-production printed sample and remove this potential pitfall.

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Top Ten Pitfalls Of Buying Promotional USB Memory Sticks

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Drawing in the Crowds

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Many companies and businesses today are finding more and more that attending trade/marketing shows is one of the best ways to attract new business, especially in these hard times of the recession. Many potential clients can be approached face to face, and leaflets and freebies can be handed out, which help people to remember different companies and their services.

There are many types of giveaways that companies can offer to prospective clientele. Free pens with the company logo or slogan written on them are a big hit, as everybody needs a pen from time to time. Other companies opt for things such as stress balls, chocolates, balloons and even alcohol, occasionally, to draw in customers. All of these usually have the company logo and details featured prominently on the packaging and are ordered in mass quantities.

However, it seems that one of the latest trends in advertising your business is to use promotional USB memory drives, or pen drives. These are memory sticks which come in a variety of sizes, from as small as 64mb to a larger 4 GB, or sometimes even more. They can be used to store vital company information on them, such as price plans, contact information, available packages on offer and even videos and images showing the company to its best advantage. Also, they can be locked after they have been created, meaning that once the information is on the promotional USB memory drive, it cannot be deleted.  In addition to all these benefits, the exterior casing of the USB pen drives can be customised to show the company logo and/or slogan on the front. A lot of them also come in plastic cases that prevent them from being damaged and make them easier to stack and display on a marketing stand.

A lot of companies that are using promotional USB memory sticks to advertise their business seem to be finding that they have a bigger impact than using items such as chocolates or balloons. This may be because they are easy to slip in a handbag or wallet, so people will find them after they have left the show and access them to jog their memory of the company. Also, as it is so easy these days to use a laptop whilst travelling, people can access the promotional USB memory sticks even when they are going home on the train or the tube, for example.

The range of promotional USB memory drives that are available is ever growing. From the classic brushed aluminium style to leather, from wooden ones to novelty varieties such as wristbands or spheres, there is a type out there to suit every need. They can also be bought in an array of colours including yellow, green, red, blue and pink. Eco friendly memory sticks are also available, which are classed as environmentally friendly.

So, if you have booked yourself in for a trade show and need to find some way of advertising your business that is not only cost effective, but doesn’t hurt the environment, USB sticks may be the way forward. With such a wide range to choose from and incredible versatility when it comes to choosing the actual design that will best suit your company, promotional USB memory drives cannot be beaten.

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Drawing in the Crowds

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Secrets to Growing Your Business: Promotional Pen Drives

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Portable USB memory has advanced significantly in the last few years, and the range and style of flash drives available today are many. Companies who want to market their logos and products to a large audience of potential customers are using promotional pen drives to “spread the word” about their business.

The phrase “pen drive” is a general term for many types of USB storage that don’t all necessarily look like pens. The other interchangeable terms for this type of portable storage are flash drives, jump drives, and memory sticks.

However, the most stylish pen drives do resemble executive ballpoint pens. When you unscrew the cap, however, instead of a writing instrument you find a handy USB flash drive to store documents, data files, pictures, and other important information that can be used with any available computer.

For a business that sells products or services, promotional pen drives offer opportunities for cost-effective advertising and for building up brand awareness with their clients. Customers appreciate these promotional “freebies,” since they can be plugged into any available USB port on a Windows or Mac-based computer and used without any previous setup requirements.

Offering pen drives to all your customers makes smart business sense, since it generates opportunities for repeat business when people use the devices outside of your place of business. What you really get is a portable business card that has your business name, logo, address, or phone number.

If the recipient uses this device in public, it may generate conversation from satisfied customers who can tell others about what your firm does or how well they were treated when they did business with you.

As data files, computer documents, and digital photo files get larger and carry more information, a pen drive can provide some much needed storage space for frequently used files on a computer that are not vital to the operating system. Those who design audio devices, satellite receivers, and other electronic equipment are adapting their products to accept pen drives by adding USB ports to their components for easy transfer.

This means that music files, pictures, and digital media can now be accessed on more than just computers. The increasing availability of high-speed internet service and wireless networks allow business people to share information more quickly and easily than ever before.

In essence, by offering promotional pen drives to business associates and customers, not only are you contributing to the growth of your brand name and reputation, you are opening doors to inexpensive channels of communication that weren’t possible less than ten years ago. Flash drive companies are also addressing data security concerns by including encryption software with many of the newer drives.

The cost of producing flash drives is dwindling, and those savings are passed on to those who purchase them. They are more lightweight, durable, and reliable than other forms of media storage, with no moving parts. In addition, there are now wide ranges of “sizes” of pen drives that can now store up to 64GB of re-writeable data, although 16GB drives are much more common.

Remember, these are small devices that can easily fit in briefcases, backpacks, even trouser or shirt pockets. The colour, size, and style combinations now available are incredible, and designing promotional pen drives to match the personality of your business could be a small step that generates repeat customers and a greater market share than one might think possible.

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Branded USB Memory Stick – Watermarking Feature

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Irrespective of the quality of the printing process on a USB Branded Memory Stick, overtime it will succumb to wear and tear. So how can you ensure that the brand is always upmost in the user’s mind?

Well USB2U has launched a fantastic new service called Watermarking!!

The Watermarking works by having a logo or artwork of your choice programmed onto the Promotional USB Memory Sticks. This then appears as the background wallpaper in the drive window when your client plugs the Branded Memory Stick into a usb port.

This is a great way to reinforce your brand, add a promotion, provide contact details.

USB2U Watermarking

It is very simple to set on your Customised USB Stick and is guaranteed to impress! You could have your artwork or logo tiled or stretched to fit the drive window or as subtle as a single logo.

Think about how the wallpaper feature works on the desktop of your laptop or PC, this works in exactly the same way!

Below are comments from customers who have chosen the Wall Paper Feature:

“an absolutely brilliant feature – thanks for arranging it”

“we didn’t even know this was possible until our USB2U Account Manager discussed the idea with us, but we’d have it for all our future orders”

“a fantastic add-on to an already excellent promotional item”

Contact trade@usb2u.co.uk or 01604 685040.

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Branded USB Memory Stick – Watermarking Feature

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Testimonial – Getech

Friday, July 10th, 2009

Yesterday we received the USB drives. They look good, really good… it’s a shame they’ve now got to go out to our customer!!!! and even our repair centre manager was impressed what had been done at such a low price.

Will now be looking to source most forms of USB keys from yourselves. They’re not totally common, and they come in dribs & drabs… not usually in this kind of quantity… So minimum & maximum stock levels will have to be set up for this.

Donnie Barker
Purchaser

USB2U Getech Twister Mockup

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Testimonial – Getech

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Using Branded USB Flash Drives To Raise Your Business Profile

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

With expensive television and radio advertising becoming less effective, companies are increasingly turning to other marketing avenues. One such avenue is the utilisation of promotional marketing materials. When considering what type of item would best promote your business, the first thing to do is look at why the marketing shift is happening in the first place. Technology influences a massive part of most people’s lives and with this in mind, choosing branded USB Flash Drives

Branded USB Twsiter Disks

Branded USB Twsiter Disks

sometimes known as  Promotional USB Flash Drives or Memory Sticks as advertising tools will put your company ahead of the competition. Promotional USB Flash Drives are available in a variety of memory sizes, and fundamentally this affects the cost of the item. In addition, another factors that will determine the cost, will be the branding or personalisation you choose. A wide variety of low cost promotional flash drives can be printed, whilst metal or wooden memory sticks can be engraved with your company logo or corporate message.

Innovation

While there are a vast number of options available in promotional materials, most businesses continue to use the same marketing strategy over and over again. Choosing printed USB Flash Drives will distinguish your company as being unique and creative. The choice of personalised USB memory sticks shows that your business is willing to buck the trend and adapt to the times and needs of the people it serves. These things will provide consumers and clients with a very positive image of your company every time they look at the item.

Usefulness

The most used pieces of equipment in offices are computers, and very often this is true in the home as well. Whether the promotional USB memory stick is used primarily at work or home, it is likely to be carried between both locales as well as others. This portability means that your company will be advertised to people everywhere the USB Branded Flash Drive is used.   Additionally, the promotional memory sticks are sure to be appreciated and utilized by someone once they are handed out, unlike other promotional items, which never make it out of their packaging.

Distribution

One important consideration is how to handle distributing your promotional USB Flash Drives. One simple method is packaging them with existing products for purchase. This option is very popular with consumers as they like the idea of getting a value added product. Other ways that the personalised memory sticks could be utilised is at events, conferences and trade shows. These can be loaded with data and provided as free gifts to the people who visit your company’s stall or in conjunction with the purchase of specific items.

Whatever way you choose to hand out your promotional USB Flash Drives, you can rest assured that your choice of item will give your existing or potential clients a favourable impression of your company, an impression that says yours is a forward-thinking business that will serve them well for many years to come.

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Branded Carabiner Keyrings – Worth The Extra Cost

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

When considering promotional USB memory sticks don’t forget the added value you can get by combining these with a branded carabiner keyring. These handy little products are excellent on a number of levels:

• They help to ensure the recipient of the branded sub stick doesn’t lose it. The cord loop on the end of the keyring attaches to the end of the USB memory stick and the keyring itself can be “snapped” onto belts, bags, laptop bags etc. to keep it safe and secure. There’s no point spending lots of money on promotional memory sticks if they are lost almost immediately

Branded USB Keyring

Branded USB Keyring

• By branding the carabiner keyring you further reinforce your brand in a simple but effective way

Branded USB Keyring - Fosters

Branded USB Keyring - Fosters

• The carabiners and their straps can be pantone matched to your design/logo again

Branded Carabiner USB Keyring

Branded Carabiner USB Keyring

• They increase the overall perceived value and benefit of the promitional item for relatively little extra cost

• The carabiners have a life of their own so if seperated from the branded USB stick they were originally attached to the brand then “exists” in two seperate place

Please be sure to mention to our sales team that you’re interested in the Carabiner Keyrings for you Branded USB Memory Sticks and they talk you through the options, leadtimes and prices.

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Can you delete files from pre-loaded Promotional USB Memory sticks?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Picture the scenario. You have just taken receipt of your bright new USB Branded Memory sticks for an event that is due to commence in 2 days. You load the first of the USB Memory Sticks into your PC and to your horror you discover that the data has been loaded incorrectly or there is an error with the original information provided.  Apart from putting a wet towel over you head what options do you have? He’s a list of things that may help:

USB Dataload

  1. Try to minimise the risk of this happening in the first place. Ensure your Custom USB supplier provides you with screen grabs of the data for sign off. Ideally ask for a pre-production sample of your Branded USB Memory sticks with the data preload. This way there little risk of any issues in the future.
  2. If the data is not protected or has an autorun. Then there are some easy solutions:

    • Delete the data from the memory sticks and re-load. Doing these individually is a painful and slow process and is not recommended for batches of over 100 units, unless you have an army of people to throw at this. This process is also prone to quality issues.

    • There are several data duplication companies in the UK that can take the Branded Memory sticks and format and reload the data relatively easily and quickly.  They can process up to 3000 memory sticks within a few hours. Job done.
  3. The nightmare scenario! If the memory sticks are data-protected or have an autorun it becomes far more complex. No surprise, as by the very nature the Promotional USB Memory Sticks are engineered to stop end users doing exactly what you want to do, namely delete and change the data. The software required to do this will be dependant on the controller that the Branded Memory Stick has been loaded with. The controller is the mini operating system that all USB Memory sticks have. Again there are several options to resolve this.

    • Return back to the manufacturer. They have the technology to format and reload the data, but the downside is that it will take time to return to the Far East, get them reloaded and shipped back. You would need to allow up to 2 weeks for this.

    • Some USB Providers will have the software to allow the data to be deleted in the UK. If not, ask them to try to obtain from the manufacturer. This would allow them to delete the data. Then the next challenge would be reloading the data. The easiest thing to do would be to load the new data with no protection or an autorun. However, if this is a pre-requisite then there are a few UK Data Duplication companies that have the capabilities of loading the data with copy protection and autorun. Again this will be dependant on the controller that is on the Branded USB Memory Drive.

The moral of this story is to ensure that you minimise the risk of this happening, by having a pre-production sample produced. Otherwise you will be entering a very stressful process and that towel will continue to get wetter!

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