One of the things that makes a custom USB stick uniquely suited to marketing and promotion uses is its nature as a data storage device. Of course, you already know that data storage is valuable to your potential audience. What you may not have considered, however, is how such features can be used to actively as well as passively promote your company’s material. Because a USB drive is designed to store and transfer data, you can choose to preload it with data that you want your customer to have. Preloading, as it is called, takes advantage of the drives features to pass along targeted marketing information in addition to the message of your surface customization.
Preloading the Message
A custom USB can be preloaded with nearly any type of information. You can set it up to include documents, graphics, and even presentations of your design. You can even arrange for these presentations to load on the user’s computer automatically. There is always the potential for your message to go astray, however. Although auto run is a part of the Microsoft setup some users will choose to bypass such features to protect their machine. You may find it more valuable to simply include your documentation and leave actually reading it up to the user’s discretion. In the long run, having the choice will gain you more points with a savy user than more heavy handed tactics could.
Protecting the Message
You also have the choice of what kind of drive to provide your customer with. A read only drive, for example, will allow you to pass along preloaded information whereas a writable drive will allow them to save their own information to it. You’ll probably get the most use out of a drive that has a read only partition though. That way, you can protect your preloaded information long enough to get it into the consumer’s hands without decreasing the drive’s ultimate utility to the user.