One of the secrets to building a successful business is to create a strong relationship between you and your customer base. Good customer service, a solid product or service and attractive pricing are just a few of the many components of developing a sustainable brand.

But there are other pieces of the puzzle that need to be put into place. That includes smart marketing and advertising. Getting your name out in front of your customers is vital to your success in getting and keeping customers for your business. A customer must see your marketing message an average of nine times before they will remember it.
One of the least expensive ways to get your name out in front of current and prospective customers is the use of USB flash drives. Imprinted with your logo, they go everywhere your customer does.

Why are USB flash drives such a smart choice?

First, is its usefulness. Think of a USB flash drive as a portable version of your computer. Your customers can take the drive anywhere they go, sharing photos, files, videos and music from their office or home with their friends, family and associates.

Second, it sends a message that you value their business. A USB flash drive tells your customers that you care about them. It provides them with a secure, flexible and highly valued way for them to safely and securely store and share data.

Finally, a promotional USB flash drive gets your name out front of your customers and everyone they come into contact with. The drive can come with a lanyard, a keychain or even fit in their wallet, ready at a moment’s notice to be called into action. And as it is, your logo is there for all to see, imprinted right on the side of the drive.

A USB flash drive can also offer you one other thing no other promotional item can. You can preload your marketing information onto the drive, giving your customers access to your sales information, catalogs, pricing sheets and contact information.

We’d like to see a pen or a coffee mug do that!

Arguably one of the most convenient ways to transport and transfer information around campus, USB flash drives have become a staple of K-12 schools, colleges and universities around the world.

With good reason, too. Lightweight and inexpensive yet extremely powerful, these flash drives allow students and educators to move vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently.

But a USB flash drive can also be used by the institution to recruit prospects, since they show that the school, college or university is technologically savvy and forward thinking. The drive can be preloaded with the school’s course catalog, video tours, applications and links to financial aid, housing and other important resources a student may need.

Faculty can use the drives to download lesson materials and upload homework, without the need to waste paper. As any school teacher knows, supplies are always in short supply and USB flash drives can actually save teachers money since they can be reused year after year. Try to do that with regular paper!

Finally, USB flash drives are a terrific way for institutions to brand themselves. A logo or message printed on the drive’s surface can improve school spirit, extend marketing efforts and support fundraising efforts. They can also be an added revenue stream, if you sell them in the school store branded with, say, “Class of 2009” or “Class of 2010” printed or engraved on it. You can even sell different models and sizes of drives to broaden your offerings of USB flash drives to those who want to show their sense of style or fashion.

Whether you’re a student, faculty member or administrator, USB flash drives are a great way to share information and data quickly, efficiently and securely

The new university year is starting soon and the Freshers are slowly filtering in to your city. However, as soon as they are settled in, the task to fill next year’s places will begin, to attract the brightest, hardest working students. It’s not too long before we’ll be seeing open days, information packs and talks at 6th Forms across the country.

Why not add an extra little gift into your presentations though? Don’t send them a 50 page catalogue that they will browse through on the bus before leaving on the seat, send them a USB stick instead, pre-loaded with all of your information. Your logo will always be in front of them, your catalogue always in their pocket.

]]> http://www.usbcompany.co.uk/blog/make-sure-you-are-option-1-on-their-ucas-forms/feed/ 0 http://www.usbcompany.co.uk/blog/usb-web-button-your-site-at-the-push-of-a-button/ http://www.usbcompany.co.uk/blog/usb-web-button-your-site-at-the-push-of-a-button/#comments Fri, 11 Jul 2008 10:07:18 +0000 admin http://www.usbcompany.co.uk/usb-web-button-your-site-at-the-push-of-a-button/

.

WHa.

What is it?

The USB Web Button is a round button, 6CM in diameter. When
connected to a USB Port and pressed, it launches a pre-defined website. It can
also be used to launch a specific application, as long as it is installed on
all computers.

How can you use it?

The Webpage:

One possibility is to have it link to your homepage.

Better yet, why not have it link to an exclusive promotion
only available to those with the web buttons?

Better still, why not have that link show new, updated
offers once a month, encouraging people to bookmark the link or keep the button
lying around?

The Program:

Does everyone log in from a workstation fed from a single
server? Or are all PCs in your office/school made equally? Have a program that
everyone has to open regularly, such as a data input program or office suite? Instead
of running www.yourpage.com the button
can also run yourprogram.exe.

The Portal:

Have a staff/student portal?
A customer relations management tool? Maybe even a central login page?
Why not have the button open it for you?

Viral:

So you’ve employed the best minds in the business, came up
with a brilliant idea, shot the video, uploaded it to YouTube, and nothing.
No-one’s noticed it. It hasn’t spread. It isn’t making your product the talk of
town. Why not scatter USB Buttons around the town, linking to the YouTube
video, the front page of the publicity-gaining viral game or whatever it is
your top marketing agents have come up with?

Please contact us for a free visual and quote on the USB Web Button.

We are pleased to announce that we are now able to deliver individually personalised USB sticks. A personalised USB stick with your student, colleague or clients name along with your logo will certainly be a present your recipient will remember you by.

Of course we offer any kind of logo/text for individual personalisation such as serial number, bar code, date etc.

All you have to do is to supply us with a logo and an excel spreadsheet with the names, numbers or text you want printed and we will sort out the rest.

Back in April the BBC reported that at two well respected universities, almost 1% of their students were caught plagarising. Chances are the true numbers were even higher. When I was at University, I caught a flat mate of mine on the same course as me copying large chunks of one of my essays (before slightly rewording them) when I placed them in the shared folder to print. That case, for instance, was dealt with “In house”, and my shamed flat mate found himself stuck in front of his PC all weekend while the rest of us went out and had fun.

What, you may wonder, does this have to do with USB Sticks?

Well, one method of checking for plagiarism is the use of various software packages, which can compare thousands of essays, as well as checking Essay banks to make sure none are sourced from them. However, for this software to be of any use at all, you need an electronic version of the complete essay.

So, why not offer your students a branded USB Stick to put their files on? They can then drop it into an envelope and hand it in to the office?

Better yet, why not have each USB Stick customised with the student’s own student ID on the back, along with the department and/or university logo on the front? That way, even if the stick is lost it’s likely to find its way home, and can then be returned to the student for future essays. When the student graduates, they also have something nice to remember you by.

In addition, we can pre-load the sticks with your university policies on Plagiarism, and perhaps A couple of PDFs on the correct usage of referencing styles, how to avoid plagiarising and any other essay related tips you may already have flyers for in the library or offer for download from the department home page.

You may even decide not to ask students to print a copy of their essay at all, both easing the strain on your IT Department on deadline day but also easing the strain on the environment.

Reduce cheating and your carbon footprint in one move? What more could you ask?