Squeezing The Most From Your Promotional USB Flash Drive Budget

Advertising and marketing budgets have been hit hard over the last couple of years and whilst there are glimmers of the economy recovering its still early days and consequentially purse strings are still pulled relatively tight. That said businesses can’t afford to stand still and the need to advertise and promote your business and products is still of paramount importance but, where hard cash is being spent its critical that you squeeze as much as possible from your budget.

When it comes to buying promotional USB flash drives there are several factors that you should consider because they will help you to get the best possible “bang for buck”:

• Don’t pay for unnecessary memory – USB flash drives are available in a wide range of sizes starting from 32MB all the way up to 64GB. Popular USB flash drive sizes are 1Gb – 2GB and these are normally ample for any corporate gifts or promotional give-aways. If you buy USB flash drives larger than this then the costs start to rise quite substantially. Similarly if you buy flash drives smaller than 1GB the price reduction is relatively small but more importantly the likelihood of the flash drive being used on an on-going basis is dramatically reduced. Without on-going use you don’t get the benefit of your brand being continually recalled or promoted.

• Reduce the number of colours you want printed – Ink costs and each colour printed has a set-up cost associated
  

  with it. Whilst some suppliers might absorb some of these costs to secure your business its unlikely that they’ll swallow all of them. If you have a complex logo or a logo with 4 or more colours see if you can simplify it. Its not unusual for there to be various “complex” and “simple” versions of a company logo available because good designers understand that a logo will be used in a variety of way and so they plan ahead accordingly.

• Plan ahead and order early – The vast majority of USB flash drives that are printed up with a company brand or logo are manufactured to order from factories in China. Despite the distances involved and the freight costs associated with shipping flash drives around the world it is still considerably cheaper to get flash drives this way. If you order flash drives at the last minute then you’ll pay a premium to get them printed locally and you’ll have far less choice in terms of memory size and style of memory stick.
• Only buy gift boxes if you really need them – this speaks for itself but its worth checking that any price you are quoted does not include a charge for gift boxes (unless you want them). Most branded USB flash drives will come in individual “poly” bags or they’ll be in a free plain white box.
• Pre-load any data during the manufacturing process – one of the best ways to offset the cost of buying branded USB flash drives is to pre-load them with your company sales brochures, media files, presentation files and so on – saving this data onto the flash drive means you won’t have to go to the expense of getting them printed. The trick though is to make sure you have the data ready early so that it can be loaded onto the flash drive at the point of manufacture (this is usually free). If you are late supplying your data then expect to pay a fee for it to be loaded post manufacture.
• Get several quotes before ordering – we all have our own favourite or “preferred” supplier(s) but when you’re sourcing branded USB flash drives its definitely worth shopping around and getting several quotes. If you do choose a new supplier make sure you get a firm quote in writing, read any associated T & C’s and payment terms and make sure the price is a fully inclusive price. In particular watch out for print set up, print origination charges and high delivery charges!
• Buying the cheapest USB flash drives can end up costly in the long run – before you just accept the cheapest price you are quoted its best to make sure you are comparing “apples with apples”. Some unscrupulous vendors will supply graded or re-cycled flash chips unless you specify “new”. Whilst most of these will work you can expect a much higher failure rate and much slower performance – not exactly what you want if you’re printing your brand on them! Choose your vendor carefully, check out their testimonials and if you’re at all concerned take references.
• Avoid buying your USB flash drives during the peak demand periods – there are a couple of times of the year (every year) when the price of flash rockets and this has a knock on effect on the price of USB flash drives. The times to avoid if at all possible include the early run up to Christmas (late September and October) when many large manufacturers buy up flash chips for their Christmas manufacturing schedules and the time around Chinese New Year when there is a general scarcity in the market.