Will the Cloud Kill the Branded Flash Drive Market?
A colleague of ours had a conversation the other day with a friend who was doubtful about the longevity of the branded USB flash drive market. They thought that with the advancement in technology and the shift to the cloud that the use for USB drives would dies out as people no longer saved files offline. We have written a few articles in the past about this and debated the pros and cons of the cloud over offline storage and more importantly for us – the USB memory stick.
The cloud is a great way of storing files and being able to access them on any computer with an internet connection, not having to worry about carrying data around with you or forgetting the files at home when you need them for an important meeting. However, the key aspect and advantage that our colleague’s friend missed was that branded flash drives are not about customer offline file storage – it is about marketing, brand exposure and getting the sales and marketing information in the hands of your customers.
The cloud and internet is undoubtedly one of the best innovations of the 21st century and has revolutionised business and marketing. However, if you rely solely on the internet to get your brand and business known and you will end up paying Google and other search engine companies a lot of money and may be missing out on many other equally beneficial opportunities.
We get a range of customers from one-man band photographers to large corporate organisations order flash drives for a number of reasons from internal use to pitch presentation hand-outs. The biggest use for the branded flash drives that we provide is to market companies and get valuable information into their customer’s hands. There is an extremely high chance that brochures or advertising and marketing material that is sent on a flash drive will be read and browsed.
Although the cloud certainly has benefits for individuals and companies for data storage, back-up and hot-desking it will not replace the need for the benefits that branded flash drives bring. There is longevity in the branded flash drive market and still many more uses and benefits to be had.
