Don’t Push a Pen with Your Name, Push the Actual Product

Maybe you’re the company’s events-coordination rock star, or maybe the task of ordering promotional items plopped into your unsuspecting lap. Maybe you have an upcoming convention, and you’re (rightfully) focused on your presentation, not your company’s promo products. (Someone else is handling the swag.) Or maybe – gulp – branded goodies aren’t part of your marketing strategy.

Either way, you’re likely guilty of this marketing mistake, and it’s time to call you out on it. Better yet, it’s time to introduce you to another option, one that can instantly transform your booth-and your brand-into the crowd favorite.

Rewind to the last time your company regrettably ordered old faithful: custom pens. They’re cheap pens, yes, but they’re keepsakes proudly displaying your company’s name and tagline. A pen is the perfect, inexpensive item to accompany your sleek, glossy print materials, right? Not so much. Not in this technological age.

Let’s agree on something now: A cheap pen is about as coveted as a flier crammed under your wiper blade, and equally as trash bound. If you’re a tech company and your go-to swag item is – wait for it – a branded pen, it sends the message you’re still running Windows XP and scratching your humdrum head (probably with said pen).

Connect with Custom Replicas

On the contrary, cool swag spreads smiles across the faces in the crowd, making them known to you, ideally transforming those strangers into customers. But, not all trade-show toys are created equally. You want an item that’s not only practical, but unique and memorable as well. It should command customer attention and create brand awareness in a useful, organic way.

Well-planned marketing and promotional strategies lead to more customers, increased revenue, and ensured success overall. A customized USB flash drive is – at last! – a promo item your customers will use and keep. Hand-crafted to replicate your product, customers will covet this swag. Unlike those poor little pens, it won’t get tossed and forgotten.

Click here for examples of hand-crafted product replicas CustomUSB created for companies like yours.

Level Up with Loaded Data

Want to take it to the next level? Load the USB flash drive with something valuable – like your latest eBook or a digital press kit-and you’ve got a leg up on the competition. An intricately detailed replica of your product with a USB drive full of great data exudes confidence, promotes your cutting-edge chops, and builds trust.

It’s truly the perfect way to create a meaningful connection: Place product replicas in their hands and – voilà! – customers become Brand Ambassadors before your eyes. Even better, you can save money on print materials by sharing all of your data digitally on a USB flash drive.

In “How to Market Your Business at Trade Shows and Maximize ROI,” The Content Factory agrees:

“On the tchotchke front, if you’re just going to order a bunch of branded pens or letter openers, save your money. Digital press kits can be emailed or given away on branded USB ports, often for less money than glossy printouts.”^[i]

Goodbye Pens, Hello Products

It’s time to scratch pens off your swag list. Completely and utterly forgettable, custom pens are, in a word, disposable. Sure, you can write with them, and there’s a regular shortage in offices nationwide, but as swag they simply smack of an amateur or apathetic company.

Don’t waste your money on junk destined to spend the better part of its existence in a landfill. Distribute something people can’t wait to display on their desks: 100% custom-shaped USB flash drives by CustomUSB.

These affordable, utilitarian USB flash drives will easily demand the interest of your customers and earn the admiration of your peers-and neither will be able to resist showing off their hand-crafted product replicas. That’s free advertising and a big win in the brand recognition column.