Junkets. Pens. Paper weights. Miniature stuffed animals. Half a suitcase worth of tradeshow “lures” that will undoubtedly end up in the trash or a drawer full of nothing but that.
That was before the world of customizable bulk technology was born. Enter the usb flash drive. Able to store thousands of pages of brochures, hours of audio and/or video and exquisitely customizable with full color imprinting or laser etching, these tiny techno wonders pack an enormous punch when it comes to brand power.
The best part of custom bulk flash drives is their mobility. Even a few thousand drives can fit inside a few average sized parcel boxes at a “no sweat” total weight. Put that up against a load full of company brochures, boxes of gadgets and doohickeys, and the end result is why so many companies, schools, non-profits, bands, military, organizations of all walks are turning to flash technology to drive their message home.
Sure, bulk flash drives may be a bit pricier than the two thousand stress balls you invested in for last years trade show. But then again, how many of those stress balls were able to provide any functional value behind getting squeezed once or twice before finally getting chewed to bits by some happy-go-lucky dog. That’s why bulk flash drives, while undoubtedly requiring more marketing investment, are the choice of many focused on both brand enhancement and functional marketing.
For instance, if a company invests in two thousand units of custom imprinted flash drives, they can offer the recipient a functional flash drive, a device they can use as they please for storing, transferring their personal information. And when the drive gets used, the company brand is getting exposure with its logo on the outside of the drive.
There are many approaches to adding custom touches to the bulk flash drive projects. One is to preload the drives with a company brochure, video, PowerPoint or other promotional literature. Another method is to customize a package such as putting your company name/logo on small wooden, metal or plastic containers engineered especially for bulk flash drive projects.
Fundamental customization includes laser etching on metal and wood drives and color imprinting on plastic models. When investing in bulk flash drives, it’s critical to ensure both the hardware and the customization are credible. Unfortunately, in the world of technology, not all products are equal. In fact, there are some companies able to provide truly “cheap” flash drives solutions because they use recycled flash chip hardware. Many times the defect rate of the recycled drives can be as high as 40-50%. That number isn’t always measured on the initial performance of the drive. Rather it’s measured on the stability of the flash functionality – whether or not the “read” and/or “write” performance of the drive is consistent or stable. In many cases, with recycled flash hardware, it’s unpredictable at best.
The easy solution to the potential pitfalls of a bulk flash drive project is to ask the flash drive company for some references along with some actual product samples showing the quality of imprinting or laser etching. The responsiveness of the company will tell many truths as to their expertise in delivering custom bulk flash drive solutions. In the end, you’ll find just the right bulk flash drive partner, freeing you up from the surplus of traditional promotional items.
For more information on customized flash drives characterized by uncustomary quality, contact CFgear at 800.371.1984.
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