Here are 14 industries using promotional USB drives and how they use them!
Much like promotional products and promotional giveaways in general, promotional USB flash drives tend to be used in a wide range of industries for a wide range of applications. However, unlike other promotional items (such as pens, mugs, hats), promotional USB drives more often than not tend to serve a more practical purpose than simply being “just another giveaway”.
The reason for this is it is not merely about the physical logo branded product, but about the digital storage as well. For example, a company may hand out promotional pens at a trade-show as a promotional product, the idea being people will keep the pen to use and their brand will get promoted. If however, they are handing out promotional USB drives instead, chances are that they are also delivering some digital content on the USB drives, such as a price sheet or catalog. This is the reason USB drives are so much more effective at promoting companies and brands.
Because of this, promotional USB drives have come to the forefront of the promotional products industry. There is a broad range of industries that utilize promotional USB Drives. However, there are a few prominent industries that we have seen use promotional USB drives over and over again for the past few years.
Over the past 5+ years at Promotional Drives, here are the industries we have seen use promotional USB Drives in various ways.
If you are not interested in all the details and want a quick summary, you can click here to skip to the summary table at the end.
1. EDUCATION
(Click here to go directly to a summary table)
Uses:
i. Orientation Week
Once upon a time, freshmen/frosh/newcomers to universities and colleges would receive all sorts of papers, flyers, and booklets at orientation week. These are slowly being replaced, and newer students are receiving custom branded USB flash drives with all these documents preloaded in a digital format. The benefit of this is that the student is provided a USB flash drive for their own personal use, which these days are an essential tool for every university and college student. Since students often keep their USB flash drives with them, they can be expected to always have these documents on hand.
ii. Recruiting
Recruiters at universities and colleges use USB Flash Drives to disseminate information to prospective students. These are distributed to prospective students at career fairs and information sessions. They are also commonly used at events abroad in order to recruit foreign exchange students. The fact that the USB drive is completely custom branded for the university or college serves to promote its name and reputation.
iii. Swag
Colleges and universities have various events where swag is given out to students. Swag has traditionally been items such as logo branded mugs, shirts, pens and other items that college students are stereo-typically known to utilize, such as beer bottle openers. There are a few reasons why branded USB Drives are becoming an increasingly popular choice for swag. The fact that prices of promotional USB Drives have steadily been decreasing over the years to make them more affordable and the fact that USB flash drives are an inherently useful product for students are both strong reasons. Then, of course, there is also the fact that items that are traditionally handed out as swag now come combined with USB drives! For example, distributing beer bottle openers for college students? Why not a logo branded USB Bottle Opener! It is the exact same concept with USB Pens and USB Wristbands.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
A strong reason card shaped USB drives tend to be popular with educational institutions is because the branding potential makes it easy to attract sponsorship. The cards can be full color printed on the front and back, allowing plenty of room for multiple sponsors’ logos to be printed. Some universities have leveraged this potential to get their own USB Cards for completely free! (Click here to find out more).
The USB Cards are also considered “cool” and convenient among students, as they easily slip into a wallet or a purse. They are also often referred to as Wallet USB Cards.
ii. USB Lanyards
Custom branded lanyards have been commonly used by colleges, universities and educational institutions for years, and the use of USB flash drives by these institutions has also been increasing consistently over the past few years. The USB Lanyard combines these popular products. These are convenient for students as the neck-strap makes them easy to carry around, and hard to lose. A reason that colleges and universities like this model are because it is easy to see students wearing these around campus, which serves as visual feedback that the flash drives they are distributing are indeed being utilized.
iii. USB Pens
This model combines a USB Drive with another item that is most definitely needed by college and university students – a ball point pen. Distributing these to students is a very practical choice.
iv. USB Bottle Openers
Not the most common model, but typically being used the same places you would traditionally expect a regular “beer bottle opener” to be handed out to college students. For example in a swag kit or a residence orientation. Having a USB built into the bottle opener makes the product more useful, and allows it to be used in the campus dorms as well as the classrooms!
v. USB Wristbands
These bracelets and wristbands allow students to conveniently wrap USB flash drives around their wrist.
2. FINANCIAL
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Conferences and Seminar Giveaways
From our experience, banks and financial institutions primarily use custom branded USB drives to disseminate information at conferences and seminars. They use the flash drives to load presentation materials rather than giving all the attendees a binder/folder they distribute the preloaded flash drives to attendees of the seminars/conferences.
However, there are other reasons banks and financial institutions use branded flash drives as well:
ii. Quarterly Reports
In an era where the use of paper is increasingly being replaced by electronic documents and companies are getting more and more conscious of the impact their decisions are making on our environment, replacing paper quarterly reports with promotional USB flash drives is a wise choice that we are seeing many banks and financial institutions make.
iii. Promotional Gifts
Banks and financial institutions have long held the culture of gifting important clients and prospective customers with branded promotional items. Given the increasing popularity of promotional USB Drives, a lot of these gifts are now custom logo branded USB Drives. Makes perfect sense given the high utility of a USB drive. Especially when you combine the fact that some traditional gifts, such as pens, can also be merged with USB Drives, such as in our USB Pen model.
iv. Product Launches
Promotional USB Drives are commonly replacing paper manuals and CDs in new product launches.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
There are quite a few models of promotional USB Drives utilized by banks and the financial industry, primarily depending on what the intended use is.
i. USB Cards
For conference giveaways, these tend to be the most popular choice. This is probably due to the fact that the front and back of the card allows a lot of space for custom branding, making it easy to convey a detailed promotional message.
ii. Swivel USB Drives
For conference giveaways, these tend to be the second most popular. The reason probably is the traditional shape makes it intuitively easy to understand that it is a USB Flash Drive!
iii. USB Pen
A USB Pen in elegant packaging is a good option.
iv. Alloy USB Card
This is a more elegant version of the regular USB Card. It has a metallic surface, which allows it to be engraved.
3. HEALTH CARE
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Instruction Guide/Manuals/Interactive Demos for Complex Products
Companies in the health care industry often have complex products that they need to provide instructions/guides along with. These used to be traditionally included in a paper/booklet format, which was later replaced by CDs. Now CDs are dying (you may have noticed hardly any new computer/laptop has a CD-ROM drive anymore) and are being replaced by custom branded USB drives.
ii. New Product Launches
Product launches are another way companies in the healthcare industry use promotional USB drives. One of the ways promotional USB Drives are utilized is by preloading them with a digital catalog of new products and mailing it out to a list of existing clients. Another interesting application is using a USB Brochure to direct the user to an online page where the product is available for purchase. In this case, the brochure would list all the benefits of the product in print format, and when the WebKey is plugged into a computer, it would automatically launch the page where they can buy the product.
iii. Record keeping for Hospital Patients
Some hospitals, instead of relying solely on physical records, assign a USB Card per patient. The way it would be configured, the patient would have read-only access, while the hospital would have write access and they would be able to add/remove/modify files in the patient’s record. Each USB Card would need to have patient’s unique information (such as name, ID number printed on it). This is possible with variable printing (click here for more information).
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
Hospital ID Cards are one way USB Cards are utilized. However, they are also the preferred choice of USB to preload instruction manuals/interactive demos on, packaged along with a product.
ii. USB Brochures
Although sometimes these are used for instruction manuals with product purchases, the most common use is to promote new product launches.
4. NOT FOR PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
The most common ways we have seen Not for Profit organizations use custom branded USB flash drives are:
i. Selling USB drives to raise money
ii. As a gift to donors
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. Swivel USB Drives
iii. Classic USB Drive
iv. USB Pens
5. CONSTRUCTION
(Click here to go directly to sthe ummary table)
Uses:
i. Bid Documents
You may have noticed a theme of USB Drives replacing tasks that were traditionally done using paper (or CD-ROMs).
However ,there are also times that instead of replacing paper, the USB Drives complement it. This is seen in the construction industry, where in addition to the normal paperwork of bid documents, other material is supplied on a USB flash drive.
Using the paper clip model of our promotional USB drives, the USB Clip can be attached on the paper to make one convenient package.
Another product that inherently relies on the concept of USB drive complementing print is our USB Brochure. In the construction industry, the USB Brochures are utilized by printing services and other information on the brochure while the USB drive can store videos, images, and other digital media to complement the print medium.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB clips
Most often used in the scenario where the USB Clip is an addition to a whole bunch of other paperwork being submitted. The paper clip can be attached to the paperwork to form one convenient package with a mix of print and digital content.
ii. USB Cards
6. GOVERNMENT
(Click here to go directly to sthe ummary table)
Uses:
i. Mass Distribution of Content
Governments use promotional USB drives for mass distribution of content, such as a new economic development plan.
ii. Plans/Information Presented to Investors in Projects
Cities may use these as a way to present plans (such as an infrastructure upgrade plan) to investors.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. Wafer USB Cards
ii. Swivel USB Drives
7. REAL ESTATE
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Business Cards
Using USB Business Cards, real estate agents are impressing their clients by replacing paperwork and delivering it all in a digital format on their business cards. Replaced paperwork include open house packets, public and/or private real estate listings, and closing documents.
ii. Replacing Transactional Paperwork
Same concept as using a USB Business Card to replace paperwork, although instead of replacing their business cards, they might choose to complement their existing business cards with another style of promotional USB drives. One good way of doing so is attaching a USB Clip (which is a paper clip shaped USB drive) onto their existing business card. Some may prefer to use a more traditional/recognizable model of USB Drives, such as our Swivel USB Drive.
iii. Gift to the client after closing
Another product that tends to be very common is our Key Shaped USB drives. Perhaps because it looks like a house key, realtors can relate to it. Imagine just selling a house, and handing your new home-owner client a Key Shaped USB with all documents, and your logo/contact info printed on it. They will never forget the symbolism!
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. Key Shaped USB Drives
iii. USB Clips
iv. Swivel USB Drives
8. AUTOMOTIVE
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Promotional gift to customers
The key shaped USB drive tends to be popular in the automotive industry. Car companies usually package these in high-end custom branded boxes and gift them to their customers. The USB is loaded with some promo videos and other documents.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. Key Shaped USB
Usually paired with high end elegant packaging.
9 . LAWYERS AND LAW FIRMS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. USB Business Cards
Lawyers may choose to deliver documents to their customers on their own business cards.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
10. ACCOUNTANTS AND ACCOUNTING FIRMS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. USB Cards
Similar to lawyers, accountants may choose to deliver reports/documents to clients on USB Cards and relieve them from all the paperwork. And their clients love them for it! We notice that during tax season, there is a sharp spike in accountants looking for promotional USB Cards. Click here to read more about accounting firms using USB Cards in tax season.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
11 . ARCHITECTS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Business Cards
Architects use USB Business Cards to convey more content than a traditional paper business card can.
ii. Pitches and Project Bids
These may be delivered on USB Business Cards or other styles of promotional USB Drives.
iii. Portfolio
If using USB Business Cards, the architect’s business card can carry their entire portfolio.
iv. Marketing Material
USB Brochures are used to list services, with a portfolio of past projects included on the embedded USB.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. USB Brochures
12. ENGINEERING FIRMS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Product Launches
New product launches are promoted using USB Cards and USB Brochures. A USB Brochure may be customized with all the features of the product, and the USB Chip, when plugged in, takes them to a page to either download or buy the product.
ii. Software Products
If the product is a software based product, the entire product can be shipped on a USB Card, as opposed to on a CD. If it is a downloadable software, a WebKey can be used to automatically launch the download link.
iii. Reports to investors
USB Drive can be used to submit reports to investors. Instead of relying on a hard copy, or a soft-copy, at times the best solution is a hard-soft copy!
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. USB Brochures
13. HOTELS AND RESORTS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Promotional Material
Hotels and resorts promote themselves either using USB Cards, or using USB Brochures with digital content on a USB Drive complementing print promotion.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. USB Brochures
14. PHOTOGRAPHERS
(Click here to go directly to the summary table)
Uses:
i. Business Cards
After a photo-shoot, photographers can impress their clients by delivering the photo-shoot on their own business card. The fact that the USB can be reused by a client provides an added incentive to keep around the photographer’s business card, which results in the prolonged promotion for the photographer and an increased likelihood of referrals (click here to read more).
ii. Delivery medium for client’s photographs
If not USB Business Cards, then other styles of custom branded USB drives are preferred by photographers to deliver their clients’ shoot on. Often the USB is presented in elegant packaging, that is also custom branded.
iii. Portfolio
Instead of a client’s shoot, photographers may choose to display their own portfolios on their USB Business Cards, or other styles of promotional USB Drives.
Popular USB Drive Styles:
i. USB Cards
ii. Swivel USB Drives
All of the aforementioned uses per industry (as well as popular promotional USB Drive styles used in that industry) can be found summarized in the table below:
| Industry (Click to view details) | Uses | Popular Styles |
| Education | I. Orientation Week II. Recruiting III. Swag | i. USB Cards ii. USB Lanyards iii. USB Pens iv. USB Bottle Openers v. USB Wristbands |
| Financial | i. Conferences and Seminars Giveaways ii. Quarterly Reports iii. Promotional Gifts iv. Product Launches | i. USB Cards ii. Swivel USB Drives iii. USB Pens iv. Alloy USB Cards |
| Health Care | i. Instruction Guide/Manuals/ Interactive Demos for Complex Products ii. New Product Launches iii. Record Keeping for Hospital Patients | i. USB Cards ii. USB Brochures |
| Non-Profits | i. Selling USB Drives to Raise Money ii. Gift to Donors | i. USB Cards ii. Swivel USB Drives iii. Classic USB Drive iv. USB Pens |
| Construction | i. Bid Documents | i. USB Clips ii. USB Cards |
| Government | i. Mass Distribution of Content ii. Plans/Information to Investors in Projects | i. USB Cards ii. Swivel USB Drives |
| Real Estate | i. Business Cards ii. Replacing Transactional Paperwork iii. Gift to Client after closing | i. USB Cards ii. Key Shaped USB Drives iii. USB Clips iv. Swivel USB Drives |
| Automotive | i. Promotional Gift to Customers | i. Key Shaped USB Drive |
| Lawyers | i. Business Cards | i. USB Cards |
| Accountants | i. Business Cards | i. USB Cards |
| Architects | i. Business Cards ii. Pitches and Project Bids iii. Portfolio iv. Marketing Material | i. USB Cards ii. USB Brochures |
| Engineering Firms | i. Product Launches ii. Software Products iii. Reports to Investsors | i. USB Cards ii. USB Brochures |
| Hotels and Resorts | i. Promotional Material | i. USB Cards ii. USB Brochures |
| Photographers | i. Business Cards ii. Delivery Medium for Client’s Photographs iii. Portfolio | i. USB Cards ii. Swivel USB Drives |
Though we have listed fourteen industries above, the list is certainly not all inclusive! There are many many more industries we work with, and it would not be possible to detail them all in just one post.
A key insight that can be derived is that card shaped models of USB Drives tend to be the most popular. They tend to be the most frequently used USB Drive style in almost every single industry. We have previously discussed why we believe this to be the case, in another blog post titled “Our Most Popular Product!”, which you can read by clicking here. These include our Wafer USB Cards, Wallet USB Cards, and Alloy USB Cards (To decide which USB Card is right for your particular needs, I suggest reading this blog post titled “Which USB Cards is right for you?” by clicking here). Based on our experience here at Promotional Drives, I think it is safe to say that card shaped flash drives are actually still increasing in popularity.
Another insight that can be derived is that even across industries, a few recurring use cases for promotional USB Drives can be seen. For example: various industries use USB Business Cards, or other branded USB drives with custom branded packaging as corporate gifts; USB Brochures for product launches; and various styles of USB drives for the dissemination of information at conferences, trade shows and seminars.
If you are still not sure what style of custom branded USB drives would be best suited for your particular industry or application, click here to get our catalog/price sheet for all models we carry. One of our sales representatives will guide you through the rest of the process of deciding which promotional USB style is best suited for your needs.
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