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Posts Tagged ‘Promotional USB’

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Looking For Inspiration – Consider Promotional USB Flash Drives

Thursday, February 18th, 2010

Lets face it; if you’ve been tasked with coming up with a promotional giveaway for a forthcoming event, campaign or conference it’s never easy. After all trying to come up with something a little bit different that is relevant to the audience and more importantly is within budget can be a chore.

If the items in question have also got to be transported to the event then size and weight might also be an issue or at least something you need to consider. This is particularly true if the event is overseas where shipping costs might well exceed the actual cost of the items and then of course there is VAT and Duty to consider at the point of entry into the country – no one said it would be easy!

Promotional USB

If you’ve already exhausted the old favourites like printed pens, T-shirts, key rings, cups and mugs etc. then you’re task will be all the harder. Whilst these great favourites are good options you might consider printed USB flash drives.

Printed USB flash drives (also sometimes referred to as memory sticks or USB Pens) not only look fantastic when printed up with a company logo but they are incredibly popular with the recipients because they really are very useful and handy things to have.

Flash drives are available in a wide range of styles and memory sizes so you’re bound to find something to suit your taste and budget. If you want to go the extra mile you could even commission a fully bespoke flash drive that is manufactured in 3-D shape to reflect your company’s products. Just remember if you do go down the custom route to allow yourself a little longer when placing the order.

Promotional USB

One of the beauties of a printed USB flash drive is their compact size. Typically they will come “bulk supplied” so there is no excessive packaging to worry about. They are also incredibly light so if you do have to take them to an event venue you’re not looking at a huge logistics operation.

To really get the best value from a promotional USB flash drive you can pre-load them with your sales data sheets, price lists, web links and media files. If you’re really organised these files can be loaded for you by the factory during the manufacturing process. The cost of doing this is tiny and in some cases free but it does rely on you having the information and files ready when you place the order.

There are lots of companies now supplying promotional memory sticks so shop around to get the best deal but do buy from a reputable supplier with a proven track record because its all too easy to buy cheap/cheerful versions that are not quite what they seem and will have a high failure rate.

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Looking For Inspiration – Consider Promotional USB Flash Drives

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Chinese New Year – Plan Ahead for Branded USB Flash Drives

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and this year the factories that produce the branded USB flash drives will be closed from around the 7th February to the 21st February. During this period not only do the factories that manufacture the memory sticks close but much of the infrastructure including the local and national freight companies (TNT, DHL, UPS etc) all pretty much stop and nothing moves.

Chinese New Year

The consequence of this is that for 2 weeks nothing much gets manufactured and what little does get manufactured can get stuck in China waiting for the freight and courier companies to return to work. There also tends to be a knock on effect on lead times when factories return to work and start dealing with the backlog of orders. Usual lead times of 7-10 days can get stretched to 3-4 weeks. Coupled with this the increased demand after the Chinese New Year holiday has historically pushed up prices in the short term.

Some UK companies will hold blank stock of the most popular branded memory sticks in anticipation of this seasonal challenge but bear in mind that UK prices for both stock and in particular the overprinting (post manufacture) are much more expensive. So, if you have an event or activity coming in February for which you require branded or promotional USB memory sticks then plan ahead and get your order in early. This way not only are you assured of getting your memory sticks in time but you’ll most likely get them at a better price.

Chinese New Year USB

According to the Chinese Zodiac calendar 2010 is the year of the Tiger an animal synonymous with bravery and courage combined with power and grace. The Chinese New Year Holiday (also known as the Spring Festival) is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays and it’s a time when the focus turns away from work towards the family.

At USB2U we will, as always, carry some UK stock for our customers but there is always a high demand for this stock during the Chinese New Year so we strongly recommend that you plan ahead and place your order well in advance. This way we can supply exactly what you need without any compromise on colour or style of memory stick and we will deliver them at a better price.

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Chinese New Year – Plan Ahead for Branded USB Flash Drives

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Beware of Fake Flash in Promotional USB Memory Flash Drives

Friday, December 11th, 2009

The continued popularity of USB memory sticks and flash drives for promotional and marketing activities has spawned a parallel market in the supply of cheap and often fake products.

Understandably procurement managers and buyers are constantly looking at ways to drive down their costs and it’s tempting when you’re offered memory sticks at a significant discount to order them. After all the pictures of the memory sticks you’ll be shown to support the order will look pretty much the same as other quotes you’ll no doubt have obtained from other suppliers so how do you know if what you’re being offered is genuine?

USB Memory Sticks

Firstly, lets be clear on what some of the typical scams are:

Quality memory sticks

  • Use of “re-cycled” and Grade B flash memory chips. These are flash memory chips that have been salvaged from other products or perhaps failed a full QA process. They are likely to be to correct memory size but they will have a much higher failure rate and will typically perform poorly, e.g. the read/write speeds will be slow.
  • “Masking” smaller capacity flash chips to make them look bigger. This is where the external flash disk and packaging is marked up to look like it’s a 1GB stick, the memory stick when connected to a PC will also suggest it has 1GB of storage but the actual capacity is say 256MB or 512MB. Extremely difficult to spot.
  • Using cheaper memory components rather than the specified brands. If you want a memory stick with a specified high-grade chip such as Intel or Samsung then you’ll pay a premium for these but you’ll also trust your supplier that these used. Once your memory sticks are delivered you don’t want to have to go through the hassle of breaking open a sample just to check that the internal memory is as specified.
  • Simple repackaging and re-labelling the memory sticks to make them look like they have more memory than they actually do.

The best way to avoid becoming a victim of these scams is to buy from a trusted and reputable supplier and ideally a local supplier that will take ownership of any post delivery problems or issues you might have.

Whilst it’s incredibly tempting to buy direct from some of the “factories” advertising themselves on the Internet think long and hard about it before you commit to an order. How for example will you deal with any problems once you have taken delivery of them? Typically once a “factory” has shipped they will not take the product back and your chances of recovering your money and taking action against them are slim to non-existent!

Also many of the supposed “factories” offering discounted prices are not really factories or manufacturers at all. Whilst they may have fancy web sites with lots of images of production staff diligently sitting at desks manufacturing and assembling memory sticks these are typically just “stock photos” and the factories will either be agents, middlemen or fraudsters.

The only way to be truly sure is to visit your supplier on site, check their factories and working conditions, check that they are complying with the current RoHS regulations and that they meet all the latest WEEE and REACH Compliance Regulations. Failing this just go with a local supplier that has already undertaken all of this due diligence.

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Beware of Fake Flash in Promotional USB Memory Flash Drives

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Northampton University Choose USB2U for Branded USB Memory Sticks

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

The University of Northampton, specifically the Northampton Business School at the University, required a uniquely branded USB Memory Stick to promote the Higher Education Alliance (HEA) within the university.

The University of Northampton Higher Education Alliance (HEA) was established to bring together the University and staff from all regional educational establishments, to provide a forum for the discussion and sharing of best practice regarding the University’s guidance activity.

Univeristy of Northampton USB Flash Drives

The aim of the USB Memory Stick was to provide students with an incentive to complete feedback on their distant learning programmes.  The prerequisite was to provide an incentive that was both compelling, relevant and useful for students.

As there is no permanent storage area on the University network for students, the USB Memory Stick would be an extremely useful tool, allowing students to store, back up and transport important coursework.

The University undertook a tender process and the normal due diligence checks. We were delighted that they selected USB2u to supply Branded USB memory sticks, not least because we are practically neighbours.

Sebastian La Porta, Sales Director for USB2U, explained “We were delighted to be trusted with the University’s important project. We were particularly pleased that the University were able to support a local business.  We have delivered many hundreds of successful projects for universities across the UK, but the team were particularly pleased to be working for our own local university.”

Dr David Burnapp (Senior Lecturer) was a very strong advocate for the project as student feedback is of the utmost importance. The dual-sided branding on the USB memory sticks ensures that it not only represents the University, but also the HEA.

Univeristy of Northampton USB Flash Drives

“We were delighted with the high quality of the goods and level of support that we received from USB2U. Whilst they won the order on our standard selection criteria, it was particularly pleasing to place this with a local and established business.”

Note:

USB2U is a leading supplier of promotional USB memory sticks, branded USB flash Drives, custom USB sticks and USB pens printed with your logo on. In fact we can supply and print pretty much anything that has a USB connector on it.

We’ve been supplying branded USB memory sticks since 2002 so you’re in safe hands. Our customers range from small local schools to some of the largest multinational companies on the planet. Irrespective of how big or small you are we’ll strive to give you unbeatable prices coupled with a fast and efficient service. Contact us trade@usb2u.co.uk.

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Northampton University Choose USB2U for Branded USB Memory Sticks

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Promotional USB Sticks – Is Preloaded Data A Good Idea

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

We’re getting an increasing number of requests from customers for data loading onto branded and promotional USB memory sticks. It’s a trend that’s been developing for a couple of years now as more and more people realise the real benefit if preloading data onto the sticks.Dataloading

The simple act of printing your logo or brand on a USB memory stick will create a fantastic promotional tool that will well received by anyone its given to. It will help develop and promote your brand and because USB memory sticks are used your brand will stay in the mind of the recipient.

But if you give-away Promotional USB sticks without preloading data onto them you might be missing a trick. Lets face it the memory sticks are fundamentally designed to store and carry data so you might as well use some of the memory you are paying for you load up your catalogues, power point presentations, flash presentation or a pop-up link to your company website(s)

Preloading data can be time consuming but if you’ve got your data ready when you place your order we can get the data loaded for you during the manufacturing process. Even if your data is not ready until closer to the delivery data we are still able to offer a competitive post-manufacture data loading service. You just supply us the data and we’ll take care of the rest.

There are several options to consider when it comes to data loading:

Standard Preload – A standard pre-load just is where we copy your data/files onto your promotional USB drives. Users can access the content at will but they can also delete the files if they don’t want them.

Pros: The data is not intrusive meaning the memory stick is more likely to be used leading to a higher retention value and thus more exposure of your logo/brand.

Cons: The user can easily delete any preloaded files.

Non-Erasable content

In some circumstance it might be appropriate to ensure that data loaded onto your USB memory sticks cannot be removed/deleted. Providing the data is supplied and loaded by us during the manufacturing process then this is not a problem.

During manufacture the memory on the USB Sticks will be “split” (partitioned) into two parts. Onto one section the protected data is loaded leaving the other section blank and available to the user to store/delete their own data.

Pros: Your data/files are always there and available to the user ensuring continuous and on-going exposure and data retention.

Cons: Users cannot delete data from the protected area of the disk to free up extra space. You also have to have the data ready when placing the order because its only possible to protect the data and partition the memory stick during the manufacturing process.

Non-Erasable Autorun

Autorun files do as they suggest – as soon as the USB memory stick is used it will launch a presentation or application. Typical examples would be a flash presentation, a browser with a dynamic link to your website or any other type of executable file that can be autorun in Windows. The autorun files cannot be deleted and as such they are not particularly popular with the recipients because they do become annoying after a while.

Pros: They’re a great way to get information about your company, your products and your brand “in the face” of the user.

Cons: Typically deemed as intrusive, a little annoying and as such retention value is impacted. They also sometime won’t work on older PC’s with Windows 98 or some networked PC’s.

If you’re not sure whether preloading files would be right for you or which type of preloading would be appropriate for your branded USB memory sticks then give us a call and we’ll talk you through the options in more detail.

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Promotional USB Flash Drive Can Give You The Edge

Tuesday, September 1st, 2009

So many promotional products fail to do the job they are designed to do by being of no value or benefit to the potential customer or end user. To understand this you only have to place yourself into the position of the customer who receives the promotional good. If you were offered something that has no benefit or value to you, you would receive it gratefully but you would not keep it in a prominent position. This means that it would not be in a position to remind you of who gave it to you and the intended purpose would be lost. This makes it essential to offer a product that the customer will use on a regular basis and a promotional usb flash drive may be just the thing to stick in a customer’s memory.

The great thing about the modern range of promotional usb flash drive products is that they can be tailored to your every need in order to maximise the benefit from using the product. For example, if a company specialises in wood supplies, why not offer usb stick made from wood. The traditional type of usb flash drive will be plastic and rather plain but the advances in technology means that the container for the drive can come in all different sizes and from all different materials. The limit on what can be used for a flash drive is probably only bound by imagination but there are obvious budgetary and usefulness constraints placed upon this type of product. It may cost a bit more to utilise the promotional element of the flash drive but it has to be questioned if the cost effective element is then worth it. Many firms would be happier to pay a higher price for a promotional tool if it guaranteed that they would have a better chance of being recognised by a firm and hopefully earning more business.

Credit Card USB

In the current economic climate, it is important for a firm to do everything that they can to gain an edge over their rivals and this is exactly what a promotional usb flash drive can do. The effectiveness of this product would pay for itself in no time at all and would help to mark out the firm as one of innovative thinking and embracing new ideas. Sometimes the additional image benefits of these promotional tasks are as important as the actual promotional work itself and this is certainly an area where this product will assist with.

If you have not considered if a promotional usb flash drive is right for you and your promotional needs, perhaps it is time to give it some thought. As more and more firms become comfortable with the digital age, providing catalogues and brochures in an electronic format is more attractive and a lot more environmentally friendly. This means that you can be seen as a firm who is pushing all the right boundaries by embracing the advantages offered by using a promotional usb flash drive product.

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Promotional USB Flash Drive Can Give You The Edge

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Promotional USB Flash Products Can Place You In Front

Friday, August 21st, 2009

If you want to have an impact with your promotional goods, you need to be able to offer a good or product that will be used regularly enough. This is because a greater degree of benefit will arise when your logo or name is continually seen by the company or employee that you gave the promotional gift to. With so many rival firms competing for attention, having the gift or promotional tool that makes you stand out from everyone else is priceless and would pay for itself in no time at all. This is why a promotional usb flash product could be the difference between you and your rivals.

No matter what colour is associated with your firm, it will be possible to find a promotional usb flash to match your corporate branding. The importance of having a cohesive image is one that is extremely important to a firm as this will make it much easier for a firm or potential customer to remember you. Using the right sort of usb flash or promotional item will reinforce your image in the mind of a customer and could place your company at the forefront of any decision they will make in the future. Given the current economic crisis that is affecting so many people around the world, it has never been more important to do everything that you can to improve your companies fortunes. Again, it is important to remember that if you don’t do it, your rivals may well do this and they will get the opportunity to make the sales that you are missing out on.

One of the other benefits that comes with using promotional usb flash technology as a gift to other firms is that it is possible to preload the flash drive. This means that you can include details about your firm and your products or services for the recipient to view at their own leisure. This will give you a greater chance of making an impact upon them and it should ensure they will always be able to examine your product details and will have your contact details at close hand. This form of promotional activity is extremely clever and goes a long way towards creating a relationship between the two firms. Given the current economic climate, anything which can be done to make the bonds between a supplier and buyer stronger should be encouraged.

Anything that you can do to sell yourself and make your firm more attractive to potential customers is well worth considering and promotional usb flash products are a little bit different. The fact that they offer fashion and functionality should make them the ideal product to use these days and by offering them to other people and firms, you will be doing everything you can to promote your firm. Every time your potential customer goes to use their promotional usb flash drive, they will remember where they received it from and you may be rewarded with future sales and business in the months and years ahead.

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Promotional USB Flash Products Can Place You In Front

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Promotional USB Sticks Have Evolved.

Friday, August 21st, 2009

The standard USB stick has been around for years and it is fair to say there is a common look and feel to these products but there are some new formats of USB stick available. These are a massive step on from the traditional format and will make a huge difference to the way the product looks and feels. If you want to stand out in a customers mind, providing a unique twist on the promotional USB sticks format, with your name or logo emblazoned across it will go a long way to doing so. If you have any awareness about marketing, you will know that innovation and individualism can go a very long way to helping you stand out from your peers. It may not sound like much but having the smallest edge over your competitors can be enough to make a massive difference with regards to sales and promotional work.

It may be that the promotional USB sticks are required to contain information and content about the company but this is no problem at all as content is able to be pre-loaded onto the cards. This can greatly help a firm spread the word about their products and will make it easier for potential customers to have all the relevant details to hand. Using this form of promotion should enable companies to allow their customers to be more informed about what they can do, which will hopefully translate into a greater number of sales in the long term. Anything which can promote a long-term business relationship in this day and age has to be worth considering for a company.

The only thing limiting the style of USB sticks these days are budget and imagination. This is due to the vast array of new styles, designs and concepts that are being used for USB sticks and this inevitably filters into the promotional USB sticks market. The quirkiness of these new styles and designs lends them perfectly to the promotional world and should really help firms and businesses spread the word about them. It used to be that colours would be the most eye catching element of a product but with leather and wood being just two of the fabric choices available for the modern range of USB sticks, the sky is the limit. This has extended to different designs like credit card shapes holding the USB stick or wristbands all of which will help the owner stand out from the crowd.

promotional USB sticks have rapidly changed over the past year or two and if you previously considered them but thought against the decision, perhaps it is time to reconsider. No matter what you are trying to promote, having your name, logo or mission statement incorporated onto promotional USB sticks will act as a great marketing tool for you and your needs. Ensuring you reach as many people as possible is hugely important and this simple yet hugely effective marketing tool enable any company or business to get ahead in a difficult market.

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Promotional USB Sticks Have Evolved.

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Promotional USB Stick Can Make You The Company Of Choice

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

With so many companies doing their best to grab the attention of potential customers, it has never been more difficult for a firm to get their promotional message across but there are always new and quirky ways to do so. Some firms who have large budgets may employ a marketing company to provide them with a concept for improving their image but that is not the sort of option that is open to everyone. It is possible to find ways that you can promote your company and ensure your name is on every desk that you want but you may have to be a little bit creative. Think about the sort of product that you use a lot in the office and try to imagine what would be of benefit to you.

Many businesses are now using usb sticks to store and pass their information and data between their staff members so you can imagine that a promotional usb stick would be of benefit to a great number of firms. Many of the promotional products that are sent to firms look great but have no real purpose which means they are probably stored away in a desk or unseen cupboard. This is frustrating as it would defeat the purpose of sending out the promotional product in the first place but using a product that is in demand can see the benefits rise greatly. A firm who receives a promotional usb stick with a company’s logo or contact details branded upon it may think that the firm is in touch with their needs.

They will likely look upon them in a more favourable manner which could make all the difference when decisions are made regarding future sales and contracts. Considering the current economic climate, it is hugely important for all firms to do the very best they can to increase sales and revenue and the promotional usb stick is a very useful way of increasing brand awareness amongst potential customers. Another benefit of using a promotional usb stick can come when working with a firm who undertake a great deal of work with the supplying company. It may well be that a pre-branded usb stick would be the obvious choice of storage system to record the work and data that is relevant to the relationship between the two firms.

Being able to have all this information in the one place and conveniently stored somewhere with that firms logo on it should make it easier to be retrieved when it is needed. This should bring benefits to both parties and help to ensure that the working relationship goes very well without any hitches. With so many different promotional tools and activities available it can be very hard to find the one that is right for you and for the parties you are trying to impress but there is no doubt that the benefits that arise from using a promotional usb stick are very apparent and should see any firm being placed in a better light. At a time when gaining any competitive advantage is of the upmost importance, this may be the factor that places you ahead of any rival firms.

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Promotional USB Stick Can Make You The Company Of Choice

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Promotional USB Memory and Data Integrity

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

While flash memory has revolutionized business communications, promotional USB memory, when used to share data and important or even confidential information, requires a bit of foresight before a company decides to distribute a whole series of flash drives to end users.

A few extra steps may be required to ensure files that are pre-loaded remain secure and, if extra space for storing files is provided, that the flash drive remains useful to the widest possible audience.

Let’s say, for instance, that your company wants to distribute a product catalogue or an annual report to a select group of retailers that your firm normally does business with. To reduce the cost of printing hard copies and distributing them by mail, you decide to generate a bulk order of promotional USB memory sticks for easy reference within your sales network.

How do you ensure that this competitive information doesn’t end up in the wrong hands? The first step is to distribute these memory sticks only to authorized representatives that will have likely filed non-disclosure agreements with your company in advance. This ensures a measure of control over who has the information and how it is utilized.

The second step to protecting proprietary information is to encrypt or restrict the use of the files themselves. A distributor can pre-load data files with read-only access or include password protection that requires a user to enter a password to open the file. Strong encryption technology can delete files completely after a finite number of unsuccessful attempts to open a file.

In this way, marketing agreements between retailers and manufacturers, policies and procedures, and confidential data are protected and the risk of unauthorized access by competitors is minimized. If files are accidentally deleted or a flash drive malfunctions, a control group could retrieve the memory stick before replacing it.

These measures apply most in institutions where information is most specific and ultimately valuable, like government, non-profit, and civic organizations, universities, large corporations, and private interest groups.

promotional USB memory sticks distributed to employees or managers of these entities are not just handy tools for sharing information, but are company-owned assets that are subject to accountability and proper use, especially among principals with some measure of authority and cultural or professional influence.

Another factor in relation to data integrity and promotional USB memory is the issue of compatibility. In some cases, older computers will have problems running pre-loaded movies or applications that are native to newer operating systems like Windows Vista and Windows 7.

In addition, security firewalls designed by IT groups to protect corporate networks may prevent auto run capabilities for audio and video files or certain file types that could be used to spread computer viruses.

A corporation or an LLC, then, has important challenges with regard to IT security and data integrity. When designing and ordering promotional USB memory sticks, these firms must develop acceptable use policies, limit access to computers with USB drives, and keep antivirus software programs up-to-date to protect their company’s interests and ensure successful transactions when sharing information.

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Promotional USB Memory and Data Integrity

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