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November 6, 2010

Branded USB Memory Sticks ? Why Are So Many Being Given Away

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 5:18 am

It’s no exaggeration to say that millions and millions of Branded USB Memory Sticks are given away free every year and the trend is accelerating. But why, what makes a branded USB memory stick such a great item and what are they most commonly being used for?

Branded USB Memory Sticks are incredibly popular with everyone because:

They are incredibly handy gadgets that make storing and transporting large amounts of data very easy. They come in a range of designs and styles that look great when printed up with a logo or brand. Matching the body of many of the USB Memory Sticks to a primary colour from the printed brand is relatively easy to do and inexpensive and helps to lift the overall “look and feel” of the memory stick. People like to receive branded USB memory sticks because of their perceived value and because of their intrinsic usefulness. They are small and light so transportation, storage and distribution is never an issue. They have global appeal. Unlike some promotional products that only work in certain markets and cultures USB memory sticks have a universal appeal. They are easy to use and data (files, music, videos, presentations, etc.) can be stored onto the memory stick before they are distribution. Prices have fallen over the last few years making them a cost effective marketing and promotional tool.

What are the most common uses for Branded USB Memory Sticks?

Not surprisingly given their popularity the usage of memory sticks continues to grow and new and innovative uses for them are being found all the time. Some of the more common uses include:

Giveaways at trade shows, exhibitions and conferences – branded USB memory sticks are an ideal way to get your brand distributed and your sales brochures brought to life. Pre-loading links to your website, including sales videos and presentations together with product sheets and special offers. Seminars where they are typically pre-loaded with speakers notes, presentations and details of forthcoming seminars and events that the audience might be interested in. Press Launches – handing out a branded or even a custom shaped USB Memory stick at a press launch is a great way to engage with the invited journalists. Custom USB memory sticks manufactured in a shape to represent the event are becoming increasingly popular because of the “wow” factor and talking point they create. Product Launches – USB memory sticks printed with the logo or design of your product (or even manufactured in the shape of your product) and pre-loaded with product information, preview videos, pricing etc are popular. More and more companies are now using memory sticks are a core part of their overall sales and marketing mix and launch plans. University Fresher Fairs – every student loves something for nothing and if it can’t be beer then a USB memory stick is a good substitute particularly if you can pre-load it with lots of useful information for them on the university, life as a student, student offers, housing information, student union details etc. Schools – Many schools now mandate the use memory sticks and are either making them available to students free of charge or supplying them with the school crest/logo on at a subsidised rate.

Whilst not an exhaustive list it does illustrate the range of uses the once humble USB memory stick is now being put to.

Phil is part of the team at USB2U. USB2U is a specialist supplier of Branded and Promotional USB Memory Sticks. We offer fast turnaround times, excellent advice and support and free design and mock-ups. If you are considering Branded USB Memory Sticks or want a Custom USB Memory stick then please contact us – we ‘d be delighted to hear from you.

November 5, 2010

Top 10 Tips for Buying Custom USB Memory Sticks

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 10:51 am

There is a real growth in the demand for custom USB Memory sticks but for many the world of promotional memory sticks, branded memory sticks, printed memory sticks and custom USB memory sticks is all a bit of a mystery. To help you understand what they are and how to go about ordering them here’s our top 10 tips:

Understand what a customised memory stick is. They should not be confused with standard “factory owned” designs that simply have your brand or logo printed onto them. A custom USB Memory stick is manufactured specifically for you and you will “own” the finished design. Typically custom USB memory sticks are manufactured in a 2 dimensional or 3 dimensional shapes to represent your brand, product or in a shape that works with your advertising and marketing campaign. Pretty much anything can be manufactured so don’t be afraid to ask for what might seem impossible. Custom sticks in the shape of bottles, cans, fruits, cars, forklifts, footballs, baseballs, cartoon characters, badges, poker chips, bullets and even tampons have been manufactured. Choose your material – Custom USB Memory sticks can be manufactured from a range of materials including but not limited to plastic, PVC, ABS, Silicon, PET, rubber, wood, leather and metal. If in any doubt ask your supplier and get some samples so you can feel/see how the material influences the finished product. Be aware that for some intricate designs the factories may not be able to manufacture them in all of the materials available. Be clear in your brief to your supplier. Most good suppliers will have their own in-house design team and be able to work up concepts and ideas for you and they should be willing to do this free of charge. The requirement on you is to articulate what you want, how its going to be used and to provide some context. If your supplier is expecting you to deliver a finished design and drawing for the factory to work from then they are probably best avoided. There are experts in the field of custom USB memory sticks so work with one of these. Allow sufficient time. Ideally your supplier is going to need around 4 weeks to deliver your custom USB memory sticks so factor this into your project plan. This time allows for the development of the concept, the completion of design drawings and mocks ups for approval, a physical sample, modifications and the final delivery. Insist on a physical sample. Whilst photographs from the factory of the manufactured custom sticks are “ok” they are no substitute for seeing and handling the real thing. Your supplier should also be keen to do this for you, as they will want you to approve the production against a real sample. Make sure the right grade of flash memory is being used. Grade A memory chips are new and give you access to the full amount of advertised memory on the Chip. All other grades of memory chip make less of the advertised memory available for use and in some cases are re-cycled. In other words they are memory chips taken out of used kit or recovered from USB sticks that have failed the build QA process. If you end up with anything other than Grade A memory chips you are likely to experience a higher failure rate, you won’t be able to store as much information on the stick as expected and its possible you’ll overpay for what you’re getting. Always check with your supplier that they are using Grade A memory chips.  Choose the right memory capacity for your project. There’s no point going to all the trouble of getting your own custom USB memory sticks designed and manufactured and then skimping on the memory. Typical memory sizes used today are 1GB but there is a trend towards 2GB as the price differential between the two capacities drops. RoHS Compliance – although the memory sticks are being manufactured for you and not for general sale they still need to be RoHS compliant. RoHS stands for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances and it applies to thousands of electrical and computer parts and components imported into the EU. This is EU Legislation and you must comply with it. Finding out you have imported non-RoHS compliant products and then pushing the blame back to your supplier won’t wash. The fines are significant so ensure you ask the right questions and get copies of RoHS certificates. Choose the right supplier/partner. Lots of companies offer standard printed and promotional USB memory sticks but far fewer have any experience in the delivery of custom USB memory sticks. If in any doubt ask for references, get samples and read up on any cases studies. A custom USB memory stick requires time, energy and money so don’t waste any of these valuable resources.

Phil is part of the team at USB2U. USB2U is a specialist supplier of Branded and Promotional USB Memory Sticks. We offer fast turnaround times, excellent advice and support and free design and mock-ups. If you are considering Branded USB Memory Sticks or want a custom USB memory sticks then please contact us – we ‘d be delighted to hear from you.

October 28, 2010

Branded USB Memory Sticks The Preferred Choice Of Photographers

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 6:39 pm

One of the biggest changes to the photography industry over the last few years has been the move away from film to digital photography. A market that was up until a few years ago almost exclusively film based is now almost exclusively digital based.

Most professional photographers and “snappers” alike will today use digital cameras or mobile phones to take their images and once taken the images are easy to store, enhance, share and it’s easy to produce print from them. For many the real joy of and benefit of digital photography is the ability to share their photo’s with family and friends by uploading them onto sites like Flickr and Facebook.

The immediacy of digital photography and the ability to take literally thousands of images for barely any incremental cost has turned us all into a nation of “snappers” and “posters” but when it comes to photo’s of that “special event”, family portrait or portfolio photo’s then we still, in the main, turn to Professional Photographers. The ability to take “fun” and personal “snapshots” is within the grasp of all of us but photography, good photography is still an art and a profession that by definition is best left to the professionals.

Growing number of Professional photographers now not only supply their clients with hard copy prints of their photographs but they also supply them with a whole collection or portfolio of shots on some form of digital medium. For the last couple of years the digital medium of choice has been a CD or DVD because these carry large amounts of data (photo’s) and they do so relatively cheaply. The downside of CD’s and DVD’s is that they are not really considered a great “keepsake” and they do little to promote the Photographer’s business or create any form of recall –in short they do the job but they are just not great adverts for the Photographer’s business.

With the continued fall in the price of USB memory sticks allied to their proven use as a promotional product more and more Professional Photographers are now starting to use them to hand out to their client. The client’s photographs are pre-loaded on the USB memory stick and the USB memory stick is branded (printed) to carry the logo, contact details and typically the web address of the photographer.

Branded USB memory sticks unlike CD’s or DVD’s have great perceived value, they enhance the service offering from the photographer and they more importantly work as an on-going sales “billboard” which in turn should generate more business for the photographer.

Just as we’ve seen a significant shift in way in which we all take photographs its likely that we’re on the cusp of a change in the way in which professional photographers supply their images to their clients

Phil is part of the team at USB2U. Launched in 2002 USB2U has now establised iteself as one of the leading supplier of branded flash drives and custom USB memory sticks in the UK. USB2U offer a free design and mock up service couple with great prices and outstanding customer support. Contact us today for a quote. We’d love to hear from you.

October 17, 2010

USB Memory Stick ? The 8 Benefits of A USB Memory Stick that Help Your Business Grow!

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 6:10 am

 

For a 1GB USB memory stick with full colour printing, duplication and packed into a well designed box, the unit cost and goes as high as USD7.50 or AUD8.90 based on 500 sets.  And for a DVD-5 and a DVD case with a paper insert, the unit cost per set is only USD0.77 or AUD0.90.

But there are still many corporations using it for their business and marketing.  Why is that so and do you think they are crazy?  First, you need to ask yourself a question, would you bother to keep the printed brochures or a CD-ROM given to you during an overseas trade shows?  I think most people like me; I rather just keep their name cards to make my luggage lighter.

  

Let me list out the 8 benefits of using USB Memory Sticks for your business.

1)      You can store your corporate profile, video clips about your organisation, latest products catalogue, flash animation with a link to your website etc.

2)      With the new technology, some USB flash drive manufacturers can help to burn your contents “permanently” onto the memory chips.  This will prohibit any user to delete your valuable contents.

3)      You can leave some space on the USB memory for the user to save their personal files.  This is the Selling Point why users will keep your USB sticks!

4)      It is portable and light. It can put in pocket or handbags.

5)      USB memory stick comes with many different design, colours, materials and capacity. Talk to the nearest USB supplier, they will be glad to help you if you need any customisation on your drive.  

6)      Print your company logo, name, contact details and website address on the USB case; it will help your customers to remember you.

7)      Set up a partition with a login/password,  you can store important information, products pricelist etc. The user will need to call or email you for the login/password before they can access to the secure partition.

8)      In the market, you can find USB drive in credit card size. Instead of giving out your standard paper name card, you might consider using USB credit card drive during your next trade shows. It will definitely impress your clients.

I think by now you should get some ideas what you can do with USB memory sticks for your business.  You and I know, USB drive is Expensive but I truly believe the” investment“will help to bring in more business for you.

Victor Tan, Sales Manager for Infodisc.

Infodisc Multimedia Mfg Pte. Ltd. is one of the leading professional USB flash drive/CD/DVD manufacturer and equipped with the latest Paper Parts printing facilities based in Singapore.
We specialised in manufacturing of USB flash drive/CD/DVD titles for the global market at a very affordable price but without sacrificing quality. 

Get your free USB stick software the link below:
http://mensblogstore.com

October 10, 2010

I am not able to delete file from the printer memory. Tried troubleshooting, printing test page. Didn’ help.

Filed under: Troubleshooting Printers — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — admin @ 3:24 am

Also deleted all files from the printer memory, but one is in queve, saying “deleting”, but it is not for 9 hours.
It doesn’t allow to print other files.
How to clear the memory, so printer is working again?

October 4, 2010

September 6, 2010

Where can I plug my Memory Stick Duo Pro memory card into my Dell desktop computer?

Filed under: All In One Laserjet — Tags: , , , , , , , — admin @ 8:33 am

I have an all-in-one hp laserjet 3030 and an hp deskjet 5940. Can I plug it into one of those or is there a place in the hard drive?

September 3, 2010

Usb Memory Sticks: the Benefit of Using Memory Sticks to Distribute Your Documents

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 11:46 am

Your printer is always thirsty for ink and you eat through reams of paper for presentations. Why not take your presentation to the next level? Use customized USB flash drives imprinted with your company’s logo for your next presentation. Leave the personalized flash drive with the client so they can refer back to it at any time. You save on paper and printing, they get a lightweight, personalized USB presentation.

The benefits of using custom USB drives for presentations are numerous, both for you and for your client.

Benefits for you:
• Updates can be made at the last minute
• Much more complete information can be left with the client
• Printing costs plummet

Benefits for your client:
• All of your presentation information is at their fingertips
• They can easily email your presentation to others in their company
• They don’t have to carry one hundred pages to review your presentation
• If hard copies are needed, they can print their own

Bulk flash drives imprinted with your company’s logo can be loaded with all kinds of company information tailored to your client or prospective client. Imagine being able to leave your PowerPoint presentation with your voice narrating it. You can also leave an audio copy of the actual question and answer part of your presentation. Add a link to your company’s website. Include a one-click link to email you directly. These are just a few ways to make the most out of your personalized flash drive presentations.

Personalized USB drives can be completely tailor-made for each recipient. Of course, you can change the names in the documents on the custom USB flash drives. But you can also include all of the technical specifications for the Chief Engineering Officer or all of your company’s catalogs for the purchasing officer. The options are virtually endless.

Also, be sure to leave memory space on the custom USB flash drives for the client to use. The client will enjoy the ease of saving documents related to your company right on the personalized USB you gave them. This means leaving the client at least 500mb of memory on your custom USB presentations.

Your company can even email updated information with instructions on how to save to their personalized USB drive. By doing this, you can keep the client up-to-date on price changes, new items, special offers, and more. If you are dealing with a client who is not computer-literate enough to complete these updates, stop by their office and update their personalized USB drives yourself. This is also a great way to get regular face-time with your customers.

Custom USB flash drives that have been personalized to fit each individual client are a cost-effective, environmentally friendly way to leave a lasting presentation.

Pamela Lund operates BespokeUSB.com, which sells
custom USB flash drives.

August 21, 2010

What is the most Popular Type of Branded USB Memory Stick

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 10:26 am

With hundreds of thousands of USB Memory sticks being purchased every year by Companies in all different business sectors its interesting to consider which type of memory stick most of them buy and why.

Branded and Promotional USB Memory Sticks come in all different shapes and sizes, some small, some large, some with caps, some that retract and some with a “twisting” cover. Most accommodate lanyards or key rings, some are manufactured from plastic, and some from metal and increasingly some are made from recycled materials like wood or bamboo.

Its also possible to have a bespoke branded USB Memory stick that is say made in the shape of one of your companies products, e.g. a wine bottle, a car, pretty much anything you can think of.

But, despite this the most popular promotional USB memory sticks used by companies, organisations, schools and universities to promote their brand, to use as “giveaways” to hand out to their staff or students remains the USB “Twister” model (also referred to as the Swivel model).

Like most great designs it’s the simplicity that makes this particular memory stick a winner. It carries the printed brand well, its relatively small, it works with a lanyard and/or key ring but most importantly there is no cap to lose!  It seems that these simple elements and the ability to offer companies a different colour body shell (optionally pantone matched to a companies brand) make it a real favourite.

The launch of the “retractable” USB Memory stick looked as though it might threaten the crown of the “twister” but this has not proven to be the case and its dominance prevails.

So, if you’re considering USB Memory sticks as a promotional item and you want to know what’s working for most companies then, based on what’s happening in the market, it’s the Twister!

Phil is part of the team at USBNow and USB2U. These companies are specialist suppliers of USB Products including Branded USB Flash Drives

and Promotional USB Memory Sticks

August 20, 2010

Branded Usb Memory Sticks ? When Is A Chip Not A Chip?

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , — admin @ 4:02 pm

With the growing popularity of Branded USB Memory sticks, there are a number of providers springing up to support this. However, there is a hidden issue that any potential buyer needs to be aware of, that not all providers are that transparent with.

In essence there are 3 components to any Branded USB Memory sticks, the flash chip (the brains), the circuit board and the body of the USB Memory stick itself.

Whilst the circuit board and body are pretty standard across the industry, there is a wide variation of USB Flash chips. In summary these can be classified as follows:

Grade A: Original ‘branded’ USB flash chips

These flash chips are made by leading global brands such as Samsung, Hynix, Intel, Micro. They will print their name and unique series number on each chip.

These are tested to a high QA tolerance and come with a full warranty. They are the most reliable, but come at a premium price and are the most expensive USB Flash chips in the market.

Grade B: OEM flash chips

These USB flash chips are made from the main chip providers, but do not carry any branding or warranties. They are as reliable as the branded flash chips, but come at a discounted rate.

Grade C: Downgraded flash chips

There is a wastage of chips from the main manufactures, from a combination of the chip cutting process and QA failures. These are sold in bulk to third parties, who aim to recycle and sell on. There is a high failure rate on these USB Memory sticks, up to 40% in some instances. However the low price also reflects this.

Grade D: Masked chips

Finally we have fake / counterfeits USB Memory chips. This is when port quality chips are programmed to mask the real size of the memory. For example, a memory stick may show that it is 1Gb, but could actually be a 128Mb chip. The only way that a user would find out the problem exists is if they try to load data that is over the actual chip capacity. The prices offered are extremely low and reflect the cost of the actual chip set used.

So in summary, ensure the supplier informs you in writing what type of chip they are providing. If it is a mission critical or high profile project, it’s worth paying for Grade A branded chip. However, Grade B would suffice for most promotional campaigns.

One final point if the price for the Branded USB Memory sticks sound too good to be true or out of sync with other quotes then there is a high probability of them being Grade C or D chips.

Phil is part of the team at USB2U. USB2U is a specialist supplier of Branded and Promotional USB Memory Sticks. We offer fast turnaround times, excellent advice and support and free design and mock-ups. If you are considering Branded Memory Sticks or want custom USB memory sticks then please contact us – we ‘d be delighted to hear from you “

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