Using Gift Cards as Marketing Tools

Sep 17, 2013

Leveraging Custom Gift Cards

Everyone loves getting custom gift cards. Studies have shown that American women prefer them as holiday gifts, and men consistently rank them as their third most wanted gift.

Gift cards represent a valuable resource beyond an added revenue source during the holidays.

They enable your brand to come in contact with consumers that you don’t normally reach. This benefit alone is a powerful way you can leverage business gift cards to attract additional purchases and tap into new customer bases.

Improving Sales of Customized Gift Cards

Plastic gift cards are a kind of hardcopy way of going viral with your business. Finding ways to make them attractive to your customers can provide an excellent ROI.

Creative ways of improving your custom gift card sales include:

• Supporting a local charity with a percentage of gift card proceeds.
• Create a gift package. Pair a gift card with a promotional experience or product. When someone is looking for a gift for a loved one, a package gift feels more intimate and personal.
• Using them as promotional coupons. Offer discounts, special prices, and other cost-saving options for customers. This promotional activity alone can add significantly to your customer base.
• Offering special promotions for products or services that accompany a gift card purchase.
• Create gift cards for your business that promote lesser known holidays. Presidents Day and Patriots Day could create a boost in your sales when they wouldn’t otherwise.

Design them with your logo and brand matching elements and you have a viral marketing tool that customers are literally carrying in their purses and pockets. When they distribute them to friends and family members as gifts, you gain a unique level of exposure you can’t create any other way.

Additional Benefits

Some of the most powerful benefits of business gift cards include:

• Reaching customers you wouldn’t otherwise attract. People that receive plastic gift cards as gifts nearly always use them. Once they’re in your store or on your website to redeem their card, you have a new potential long-term customer.
• An average of only 80 percent of a card’s value is redeemed. Many customers that use gift cards end up spending more than the value of the card.
• When someone gives a gift card to a friend or family member, they are essentially endorsing you. Word of mouth advertising is some of the most valuable there is.
• You can use them to promote specific products and services of your business, drawing attention to areas where you want to see higher sales and more return.