Branded Memory Sticks: An Unique Marketing Idea

This is a guest post by Robin McCrink, if you want to guest post on this blog, please contact us.

Promotional products have long been used by businesses to advertise their brands. One that’s cropped up fairly recently with great success is the branded memory stick.

It might seem like an odd concept – especially if you’re only familiar with the traditional promotional pen or calendar! – but printing your logo on USB flash drives and distributing them to clients or staff can make a huge impact on brand awareness.

Image credit: marketing from Photodune

Usefulness

One of the prime reasons why branded memory sticks are great gifts is the fact that they are highly useful in both the office and at home.

A growing number of people now use multiple computers for work and leisure purposes, making USB flash drives handy when it comes to transferring files between machines and backing up important data.

Many users carry their memory stick around with them, perhaps on a keyring or in their bag, underlining just how useful they believe it to be.
The stats also confirm this. Research by the BPMA shows almost 45 per cent of people would most like to receive a branded USB flash drive, while 21 per cent – the highest proportion in the study – said they find memory sticks to be the most useful compared with other promotional products.

Place your logo prominently on the device and the user will look at it every time they plug the memory stick into and take it out of their computer – ensuring multiple impressions over the lifetime of the product.

Cost-Effectiveness

Image credit: coins 1 from stock.xchng

It can be cheaper than you think to use USB flash drives in your brand marketing campaign – long gone are the days of paying an eye-watering amount of money for one of these little devices thanks to cheaper manufacturing process and greater competition among providers!
They can cost as little as just over £2 per unit, depending on the amount of memory you opt for. The BPMA study shows the cost per impression for a memory stick is £0.005, compared with the same figure for newspapers and £0.008 for TV advertising, for example.

When you consider the fact that the majority of recipients keep promotional items for at least a year, branded flash drives are definitely a cost-effective way to enhance brand awareness.

Creativity

There are plenty of options when it comes to customising your memory sticks for your marketing campaign. As well being able to choose from lots of different colours, you can also select unusual shapes – flash drives built to look like little people complete with arms and legs are great fun and are sure to raise a smile!

As well as this, many organisations are using USB sticks to distribute digital content. This can be a fantastic way to get anything from catalogues and brochures to promotional videos and presentations straight into the hands of your target audience.
Make this content interactive and flash drives could become a key part of your online marketing campaign. Insert links to your website in the right places and you could well see an increase in traffic and even conversions, or take advantage of the social media trend by making it easy for users to share the content via sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The possibilities really are endless. Have you seen branded memory sticks successfully used in a creative or unusual way? Post a comment and let us know!

Image cover credit: USB Key 1 from stock.xchng

– Written by Robin McCrink –