Website Marketing Club

Growing Your Business With Custom Gift Cards

Dec 4, 2009 Sales

Whether you’re a new business just opening or a growing business with a substantial bank of customers, you have one goal in common: you want more. More traffic. More loyal buyers. More revenues. And everyone through the door or on the phone has a plan to get you there. Confusing? Sure it is, but no one said your climb to the top would be easy.

One of those steps that both new and established businesses have to consider is gift cards. Can they really make an impact for your company? Are you missing profits without them? Perhaps, this is one of those decisions you have been putting off but know you should make.

You are probably familiar with some of the more common types of merchants that have been using gift card programs. The local restaurants, the beauty salon, the spa down the street … many of them have long ago shed the paper gift certificates for an improved gift card program. They understand the importance of introducing their business to new customers and pre-selling their services. However, what you might not realize is that gift card programs have integrated successfully to a wide range of non-standard merchants. Whether it’s the local grocer, the auto dealer or a pet sitter or groomer, the plastic gift card has become an indispensable source of business. To know whether a gift card is right for your company, let’s take a look at three reasons it may be a perfect fit.

Gift Cards Are Desired by Your Customers

It’s often said that gift cards aren’t a creative gift. The demand for them, however, tells a different story. Plastic gift cards were among the top of the most-asked-for gift items (clothes and media/electronics are the other items in the top three). Whether it’s because of a gift card’s ease of use and delivery; or because the gift-givers want to introduce their friends to a service they like; or because there are more and more creative choices that will be appreciated by the recipients … gift cards continue to rise in popularity. More and more consumers expect business establishments to offer gift cards. If they don’t, they often find a competitor that does.

Image is Everything

A gift card program goes beyond the card itself. Your image and brand is reinforced to consumers in a variety of ways. A gift card becomes a pocket-sized, shiny billboard that promotes your image with class. Larger gift card manufactures can provide you with multiple design solutions — from simple, standardized designs ready to be shipped to full-color designs that carry your logo, colors, brands and imagery. Along with the gift card, you also have a variety of methods to promote it. On-site merchandising tools can include custom card displays, card carriers and hangers, attention-grabbing posters and more. It’s very simple to build an integrated gift card promotional campaign that not only markets your card, but reinforces your brand.

Driving Your Revenues

I’m going to take a wild guess that you probably wouldn’t turn away more revenues, increased traffic, and additional loyal customers, right? A gift card program addresses all of these aspects of growing your business. A single gift card will represent at least two visits (maybe more) to your business — the first visit when a consumer purchases the card, the second visit when the card bearer returns to use the gift. Additionally, these card bearers also may be new to your business. A percentage of them will return to your business. And many will even tell their friends about your business. You’ve just leveraged an existing customer into creating new customers. And the purpose of all these consumers with gift cards is to buy something … and quite possibly something more expensive than they would have without the added benefit of the card.

Whichever type of gift card program you decide to develop, there is a crucial aspect that all gift card programs share — as soon as you sell a gift card, you boosted revenues. You’ve essentially had a consumer make a pre-payment. That plastic gift card may be redeemed in a few hours, in a few days or weeks … or quite possibly, never. But that sale is already made and that revenue is yours. You can use that money to help your business now. This is an envious position for any business to be in, and a gift card program is an excellent way to place you there.

Al Duggan is an expert in loyalty cards and the Vice President of Business Development for Valutec Card Solutions, an FIS (NYSE:FIS) company, the nation’s biggest provider of gift card programs to small merchants. For more information, please visit their website now.

Tags: Business, gift cards, giftcards, loyalty cards, marketing, plastic card printing, promo, promotion, Sales, small business