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Upgrade Your Promotional USB Flash Drive

In the computer world, upgrading often means adding more functionality, capacity, or speed. The promotional world works slightly different. While the conventional meaning of the upgrade can add value to a promotional item, the right accessory to the USB flash drive can do a lot more.

The USB flash drive has established itself as a great promotional tool through customization, convenience, and functionality. There are hundreds of different models to choose from; not including the items that you can make 100% custom. However, promotion is not all about just slapping a logo on the flash drive, mug, or a t-shirt. I think many would agree that it’s about building and maintaining your brand.

Your business spends enormous amounts of money into associating your brand with values of quality, excellence, dependability, creativity, and cutting-edge. Your services and products are designed to speak the language of these incredible values; your marketing products must absolutely do the same.

A promotional product is often neglected as a simple giveaway. It’s just something that you have to have on your table because the guy next to you offers a similar product. The idea in one’s mind is that it has to be as cheap as possible – I’ll be giving these away anyway! Wait one second. What happened to all of those values that you’ve spent building into your brand?

It’s important to continue treating every product that is offered or given away as a company’s product. Every item represents your company. The cheapest pen that will break in a day, a t-shirt that cannot hold after a single wash, and a flash drive that stops working after a week just will not do.

While a single promotional product will not necessarily win any customer in a single event. With a right approach, it  will continue building your brand.

Many customers who purchase the USB flash drives tend to go with the most economical solution. It is quite understandable, especially in the current economic times. There seems to be a single focus that the value of the promotional USB flash drive is primarily in capacity, and not in the presentability of the item. While I do agree that capacity is quite important, I also think that the accessories are as important or possibly more important than the capacity.

When the promotional item is properly accessorized, it is upgraded in a way that no capacity or speed can upgrade. The item feels, looks, and speaks thoughtfulness, design, uniqueness, and style. An accessory can help your promotional item speak on many different levels and reach farther than an item alone.

One of the most effective methods to upgrade (accessorize) your promotional drive is a stylish gift box. It has to be stylish and quality made, and most importantly display your promotional item as you would crown jewels, and engagement ring, or an expensive gold pen.

These gift boxes add significant value to your promotional USB flash drive. Not only do they present your item with style, they also make your brand stand out, and be immediately recognizable.

While it is possible to present each drive in a simple clear plastic bag, the frugality of the bag does not speak the language of your brand, bar a dollar store. Right presentation is an effective investment – it may be more important than the product that is being presented. Make sure your promotional products speak the same language as the rest of your business. Upgrading your promotional USB flash drive is not an option, it is a necessity.

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Understand your customer then strike with surgical marketing

Visibility of your product or service and effectiveness of the message are two utmost essential considerations of any marketing campaign.  The wider is the visibility and the higher is the rate of effectiveness, the greater is the chance for your marketing success.

It will not take long through your planning stage to realize that all of the effective methods (TV, Radio, Print, Internet, and Promotional Merchandising) of communicating your message out to a large group of people does not come cheap. Cutting down the venues of advertising down to today’s popular choices such as Internet, TV, and Promotional Merchandising can save a bundle, however that’s not where the real savings are.

Possibly, if you are a large company, you can afford firing your message out everywhere, no matter what the cost is. Eventually, if you stick at it for a long enough time, your message (good or bad) will be imprinted in everyone’s mind for immediate brand/service recognition. Now everyone knows what your message is and what you are selling; is anyone buying?

After spending millions of dollars on trying to advertise a product or service, it is very easy to end up with nothing to show for in the end. It is the opinion of the author that many managers or owners do not realize is that your marketing company does not necessarily care about or truly understand your brand, product or service.  The marketing company cares about creating a nice package to deliver a message to your potential customer, however only you – the service/product owner can understand and communicate who that potential customer is. If for any reason there is no clear understanding about who your customer is, there should not be any marketing campaign.

Understand who your customer is and what his needs are. Grasp what can turn the customer’s attention on by understanding what your product or service does for your customer, and why your customer is interested in your product or service. After the true nature, form, and definition of your customer start to appear, and you begin to understand what specifically needs to be targeted with your marketing campaign, you are ready to work with a marketing company to help you along. It is creative and artistic help that you will be seeking; the guidance must come from you.

The marketing campaign does not have to be an all out war; the war can be won with surgical strikes. Not only surgical marketing can be cheaper, it can be much more effective.

The better you know the customer’s characteristics, the better the chances of success. Starting out with a less expensive Internet marketing is a great choice for building a custom visual and/or textual message and measuring effectiveness with reporting tools. If that goes well, Promotional Merchandising in shows, fairs, and/or competitions brings a personal touch with lots of one-on-one interactions with your customer. Finally, if there is significant justification, go for the gold via wide print and TV advertising with a honed and customer personalized message.

Understanding your customer is just like understanding the battlefield, knowing where your allies are, and where your enemies are. Once you have that kind of understanding, you are prepared to start the battle with your best troops from the marketing company, however do not forget who the commander-in-chief is. Finally, take the win with effective surgical strikes instead of all out expensive and dragged out war.