This is a worthwhile question to ask from a point of view of using promotional products for marketing. The uses of promotional products have been around nearly as long as marketing itself and many companies use them as a significant part of their strategy.

For full disclosure, this article is being written by USBEXTRA; a top tier personalised USB flash drive designer and manufacturer based in Leeds, United Kingdom. We currently develop different forms of branded technology premiums for Marketing, Comms, Events, PR, etc. for ASDA, Microsoft, BBC, Heineken, Range Rover, TOTAL, SEAT, Hoover, NUFC, Barclays Wealth, AXA Insurance, Air Bus, British Paralympics, Procter & Gamble, Barclays, Nissan, Air France, Punch Tavern, Delta Airlines, SAB Miller, IHG, FIAT and many others.

As a pioneer of branded memory sticks in the UK, our unique range of promotional USB products form a significant part of our clients’ events marketing, exhibition giveaways, experiential marketing, PR, Comms, etc. – all with substantial impact.

In terms of the question whether promotional USB sticks are still viable for marketing in 2016; you will NOT be surprised that we definitely believe so!

In order not just to rely on our own opinion, let us look at 5 factors that we feel bear out our belief re the incredible effectiveness of the promotional USB drive and branded technology products in general.

Relevance/Usefulness

As stated above, for many years, marketers have utilised promotional products as a vital tool for cultivating brand recognition in the course of marketing promotions. The question is whether the promotional USB memory stick is more relevant for dissipating your marketing communications and more importantly, whether it is relevant to your target recipient.

As we live in an ‘information age’, the branded USB drive is more potent than most promotional products because they can be preloaded with your catalogue and company information. A USB flash drive branded with your company logo is also equally beneficial to your recipients as our need for storing information becomes greater every day.

Conclusion: With the points stated above, we believe the promotional USB flash drive beats every other product when it comes to relevance.

Brand Exposure

Brand exposure is a vital part of all forms of marketing and the branded flash drive works as well as, if not better than most promotional product.

Promotional products have also been found to change buyer behaviours. Notice the research chart below by the British promotional merchandise association (BPMA). Marketers can increase their brand exposure as many recipients are ready to change their loyalty if incentivised by a tangible business gift.

Whilst companies use many forms of marketing like social media to increase brand awareness and exposure, incentivising, merchandising and competition gifts are clever ways of increasing brand awareness, by using cutting edge technology to promote your brand.

The many companies we stated above use our range of branded technology products to increase their brand exposure and market their brand. An example is the custom football kit USB flash drive we develop for many football clubs in the country.

Also, the USB flash drive is a daily use promotional product. Your brand is constantly exposed every time it is brought out and used by your recipients. Without disparaging the humble printed pen, the massive brand exposure a USB stick custom printed with your logo can deliver cannot be compared with a pen or snow scraper.

Conclusion: We strongly believe personalised memory sticks will deliver the best brand exposure for your business or brand.

Retain-ability

The fact is some promotional products given out by marketers will not be missed if they go missing!

Retain-ability is not a widely used marketing term, but is a phrase we’ve coined here at USBEXTRA. In determining the technology products we produce, we use the 'retain-ability' factor as part of our decision making process.

We ensure that all the promotional technology products produced by USBEXTRA are highly retain-able in order to make sure that your brand/company has the best marketing tools to work with.

The branded USB memory stick and our other promotional technology products, like the printed power bank, always score highly when it comes to the retain-ability factor. For example, the promotional power bank was one of our standout products in 2015. Based on the factors shared in the relevance section above, the promotional power bank is highly useful and relevant as it acts as a 2nd battery to charge smartphones and tablets.

Your company brand on one of these power bank chargers becomes a product that your recipients will not be able to put down. It raises the value of a product featuring your logo to the value and importance of a smartphone.

Conclusion: The promotional USBs are as retain-able as any other promotional product on the market – if not more!

Price

When it comes to marketing, there are always budgets and expenditure constraints. From our experience and in our recent economic climate, the price matters a lot.

The image below - re how marketers make decision when purchasing promotional products - confirms the statement that price factor is critical faction in the decision making process..

The determinant factor in price is the IC Chip – the brain of the promotional flash drive. The good news is that the price of IC Chips has dropped massively in the last 10 years. For example, the price of 8GB IC chips has come down from 22USD 10 years ago to 2.4USD (we purchase materials in US dollars). Although this cost obviously does not include casing, printing, packaging and freight.

The price of the promotional USB stick will never go as low as the price of a promotional pen for example, but the price is eextremely competitive at the moment and many major and smaller companies now have access to the marketing force of the printed memory stick.

Conclusion: Whilst there are many places (like a bank) where the promotional pen will be useful, our argument is that promotional USB sticks offer better 'bang for your marketing buck' than most promotional products.

What do other marketers think?

This is our closing argument when it comes to the potency of branded USB flash drives for marketing.

Over our 11 years’ experience, the trend and the scope of what is possible - in our niche of printed technology products - have been constantly pushed by marketers. Many of our achievements today are because of smart marketing heads, looking for what is possible and how they can extend or adapt the realms of what is currently possible with the promotional memory stick as a marketing tool.

Using this argument and the BPMA research mentioned above, you can see below that most marketers (32%) believe the promotional USB product and branded technology product arethe most useful marketing products for their business.

Conclusion: Based on statistics, most marketers have given their seal of approval to the effectiveness of the branded USB stick and printed technology products.

In summary, based on the arguments made earlier, we believe the promotional USB drive is as potent in 2016 as it has ever been! There are over 300 different casing designs and materials that can be customised to suit your marketing requirement and budget.

Our vast range of printed technology products can be used as a marketing tool to drive acquisitions, connect with consumers, promote programs, incentivising online sign-up or spend, enhance social chatter & touch-points, event marketing, press releases and other marketing & promotions campaigns.

Please do not hesitate to contact us for an initial discussion about your ideas and needs, or for any further information. You can email us at sales@usb-extra.co.uk or call us on +44 1133 50 50 65.

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We wish you the best of business and marketing and look forward to hearing from you.