Promotional flash drives are a great way to create passive and mobile marketing efforts. They're always useful and most people will welcome receiving one. Flash drives have recently become the easiest way to transport information between computers, both in the public and private sectors. It saves time, money and trees and it is good for the environment as it consumes no more resources no matter how much data it transports in its lifetime. This is a fine example of the kind of marketing campaign many companies would be wise to employ as it costs very little and yet can return plenty.

There are of course several considerations when it comes to promotional flash drives.

1. Cost to Space Ratio

A flash drive is all about memory. Generally speaking, the concept of diminishing returns applies to flash drives the way it applies to video cards - higher cost flash drives may not necessary have the same cost to drive space ratio. While less costly flash drives invariably have less space available it also means that they are worth more in terms of their space to cost ratio. This naturally assumes that the company will consider their budget in terms of purchasing the final product.

2. The Logo

The company's logo will also determine the physical size of the flash drive. Small drives that have lots of space may not be the best option should a company's logo be too complex to recognize should it be shrunk.

3. Style

Flash drives, like cars, come in many different styles and designs. The type of business utilizing them as promotional items can influence the style chosen. They may either opt for something more or less dashing or striking than the industry standard.

4. Print it Right

There are three traditional avenues to printing on a flash drive - spot, embossed or laser engraved. The kind of material the flash drive's shell casing is made of will determine whether or not any of these methods are applicable.

5. Get Orders Out Early

Having flash drives customised can be time consuming. Companies that rely on strict schedules and timed actions should make sure to order far ahead of time to minimise incidents from fully disrupting the marketing effort.

6. Artwork Format

Different files types offer different resolution and picture qualities - the proper format will allow the manufacturers to print out company logos clearer. Jpegs are commonly used, as well as TIFFs and PNGs for lossless pictures.