Article  Don't be Fooled: Cheap USB Drives are a Bad Thing Considering a marketing campaign that might include cheap USB drives? Worried about the perception your potential clients might have when they receive what some pundits claim are cheap, low grade devices? It's perfectly reasonable to have those concerns. The reality, however, is they are unfounded. Most of those negative opinions and reviews tend to be generated by individuals in the technology world that believe themselves to be above everyone else. Because they might have years of experience in manufacturing or testing of high end technology devices, they believe they are authorities on all things of quality. When it comes to advocating an opinion they are usually ready, willing and waiting to let everyone know what they believe to be right and the best. Many of the promotional devices that are routinely handed out at conferences and trade shows tend to be made of less expensive materials. The reality is that usually only the outer shells are lower cost. The medium for storing the data, must inherently be of a quality capable of holding that data for extended periods of time. So, while these self proclaimed techno gurus may review promotional giveaway items as being cheap and not worth you spending your marketing dollars on, the truth is much different. A vast majority of computer users in your market will never know the difference between cheap USB drives and custom USB drives that might cost 2, 3 or more times as much. Sure, you could spend extra money on upgraded outer materials like hand crafted wood, leather or metal, however, is it worth it to your company? The end users, by and large, are simply happy to get a bit of technology they can use over and over again for free. The reason for their inability to discern this difference in value is most likely that it has to do with how the devices are used. From a marketer’s perspective, cheap USB drives usually have some sort of message imprinted on the outer covering. With the advances in imprinting technology, more of your marketing budget can go towards creating a visually stunning message, and not towards a shell casing that might be perceived as higher in value. Many of these lower cost drives are also pre-loaded with software that allows for the recipient to gain further exposure to the marketer’s message. The potential clients then will tend to use the cheap USB drives as personal storage devices that allow them to have quick portable access to data. Even if the end user deletes that preloaded software, they inevitably looked at it once in order to see what it is all about. Quite often, they are taken to an online destination where the marketer has increased capability to entice the potential customer into buying their products or services. This was all because you, as a marketing professional, took the chance to get your message out to potential customers. If you saved money on the drives themselves, and were able to distribute a large enough volume of them, you will undoubtedly see a very nice return on your branding and sales efforts as a result. There is also growing evidence that these so called cheap USB drives tend to get passed around from one end user to another. And this means your message is seen by another individual at no additional cost your marketing budget. When it comes to getting the most for your money, nothing is better than creating viral messaging that spreads with no further cost to you. Eventually, you will find that cheap USB drives are not such a bad thing after all. Category Technology Author Anonymous Add To Favorites Print This Article Email Article To A Friend Post Comments   Rate This Article (0) 1 - Poor2345 - Good678910 - Excellent Added On 10-12-2009