| The worst enemy of any sales and marketing effort is | | | | cutting the world into ever smaller pieces and adding |
| obscurity. If no one knows you exist then you are not | | | | more and more sources of information and distraction |
| going to be able to sell to them. This is why an | | | | to the world. The problem with this is that while the |
| important part of marketing does not involve | | | | amount of information and entertainment has |
| convincing people to buy as much as it involves | | | | increased exponentially, the amount of mind space |
| making them aware that a product or company exists. | | | | people have has stayed about the same. |
| The best thing you can do is to get your brand in your | | | | This means that brute force marketing has become |
| prospect's mind and keep it there, which is where | | | | much, much less effective than it once was. People |
| things like branded USB memory sticks will come in | | | | are ignoring more and more, so you have to be a lot |
| handy. You have got your brand on something that | | | | more creative and, frankly, sneaky in order to get your |
| people touch and use daily, keeping your brand in their | | | | message out there. |
| minds. | | | | A branded USB memory stick is a great way to do |
| Marketing used to be a lot easier. There was a time | | | | this. Basically, you can order a batch of USB memory |
| when the culture was a lot more monolithic, where | | | | sticks that have your name or logo right on the outside |
| everyone listened to mostly the same music, mostly | | | | of the stick. The sticks are cheap and easy to have |
| watched the same shows, and mostly read the same | | | | made, so it makes it an ideal item to give out for free |
| books. Back in those days, all you had to do to sell a | | | | as part of your sales and marketing strategy. USB |
| product was to have the money to be able to get | | | | sticks are incredibly handy, but they are not used so |
| your product in front of them, and if your product was | | | | often that they become invisible objects. For instance, |
| even halfway decent, you were all but guaranteed to | | | | companies often put their logos on pens which seem |
| make money. It was expensive, but it was easy. | | | | like a good idea. The problem with pens is that we use |
| But all that has changed and it is not just because of | | | | them so much and so often that we basically do not |
| the Internet, although that ended up being a major | | | | notice them after a short time. They become invisible. |
| factor. Cable television was probably the beginning of | | | | A branded USB stick, on the other hand, is something |
| an age where everyone's attention was increasingly | | | | unique enough to catch attention, handy enough that |
| fractured. Where there were once three channels, | | | | people will want one, but not so ubiquitous that your |
| there are now hundreds, and there is a show for | | | | marketing efforts are wasted on it. |
| every taste. The Internet has accelerated this trend, | | | | |