Be Bold, Be Strong, Make An Impact

What’s the driving factor for most companies when they buy promotional or branded USB memory sticks?

Are they simply buying them as an easy way to distribute information and to save themselves the cost of printing, transporting and storing sales and marketing collateral or are they looking to drive customer engagement and hopefully sales.

Is the purchase of USB memory sticks driven by the need to give a gift or “thank you” to attendees at a conference or seminar or are they being purchased to engage with journalists and the media at a press event or product launch?

Whatever the reason for buying them it’s important that companies understand that branded memory sticks are a great way to develop and extend their brand. If you give USB sticks away with a reasonable amount of storage space on them then, they will almost always get used by the recipient to store and carry their own data around with them.

Companies buying USB sticks need to tap into this on-going use and ensure any brand or logo they print onto the USB drives is bold, strong and makes an impact – this is their opportunity to develop and push their brand, not just once but, every time the USB stick is used or handed around.

There are lots of examples of branded USB sticks around where they’ve been purchased for the right reasons but the execution is poor because:

• Standard black USB sticks with a black print has been chosen because they’re the easy option and a single colour print is cheaper but it’s a missed opportunity – if a companies brand colours are red and white then don’t buy black USB sticks and print them with a black logo/text.
• Too much information is printed and it looks “squished” and difficult to read – it makes far more sense when you’ve only got a limited amount of space to work to stick to a simple but strong message.
• Opportunities to take advantage of colour matching the body of the flash drive are missed – standard factory colours are “OK” for companies in a hurry but many suppliers of USB sticks will pantone match the colour of the flash drives – this takes a little longer but the end results are much better.

The best advice for companies when buying branded or promotional USB flash drives is to ensure they allow time to get the right USB sticks in the right colour and with a logo printed on them that reflects their company. Compromise, unless you really do not have the time, should not be an option!