A friend of mine is a professional photographer. He makes his living independently, using his assortment of SLR cameras, lenses, flashes, tripods, and all kinds of gear and gadgets that would make any technology lover’s mouth water. He’s on high demand for taking pictures at weddings and has gained a reputation for capturing both candid moments and posed scenes that preserve the memories of a special time. He’s always on the lookout for that unique expression or the smile that will make an image stand out. In fact, he almost never goes anywhere without his camera.
When walking downtown, he notices patterns in buildings, fountains, windows, etc. that will make nice shots and captures hundreds of photos, hoping for one or two that will stand out. He hikes mountain trails and looks for scenic views while not ignoring little flowers or leaves that lend themselves to great macro shots. He’s tried his best to promote his business, which, obviously, being all visual requires excellent visual presentation. The other day he asked me what ideas I had for getting his work out to potential customers. I recalled an interesting advertising idea I had seen online—selling bulk flash drives. They can be duplicated many times over to give out to potential clients.
In fact, CFGear.com is a company that will preload flash drives with whatever data a client wants. They offer a choice of interfaces that users can interact with. My friend could select his best images, categorize them, and put them in albums to showcase on flash drives. Then a potential customer could put the drive in his computer and view information about my friend’s business, reading about his credentials, his equipment, words of praise from other customers, whatever he chooses to put on. The potential advertising benefits are limited only by the amount of creativity he has (and he’s got a lot of it. I’ve seen him make some drab buildings look as cool as mansions with the angles he chooses). Sure, you could put that all on a CD. But a flash drive is smaller, and more original. Wouldn’t you say so?
And he could even put his contact information and company logo on the flash drive itself. Not to mention, he can choose from a wide variety of materials and shapes and sizes. Tired of the same old plastic sticks? Try a wood casing, or go with metal, or even leather. Don’t want to have a little cap that gets lost? Try a USB drive that flips in and out of its casing. And yes—the color imprinting. Make it look nice on the outside before people even put it into their computers. CF Gear’s team will work with clients to help them choose the best flash drive to fit their company’s logo. And you can be sure of quality printing that won’t scratch or rub off easily.
My friend’s into trendy art and design. He’s always looking for something new and fresh—a new angle to take a shot of a building everyone photographs, a close-up on an everyday object like a fire hydrant or a sidewalk, some way to make the ordinary look out of the ordinary. In an interesting way. He might want something a little more out of the ordinary than just color printing. What about laser etching? CF Gear can do that too. Depending on the material of the flash drive, they’ll choose the best option for etching your information onto the drive. He would really like to be able to give out something that will make people take a second look. So I think he’d like his company name etched in a wood surface, speaking of quality and thinking outside the box. See, I can help my friend market himself. Wonder if he’ll give me some of the profit?
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