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From start-ups to established businesses, the basic objectives are the same: more customers, more profits — more. Growth is a simple aspiration with a thousand ways to get there and a myriad of services that have a strategy to help you. Finding the right solutions isn’t easy. In fact, the journey can be disorienting. No one guaranteed the success you want would happen overnight.

One of the decisions you’ll have to make is related to gift cards. Do you want them? Do you really need them? It can be a tough decision — unless you’re really interested in those “needle-movers” like more traffic, more loyal buyers, and more revenues.

There are certain categories of business — such as restaurants, spas and beauty salons, and specialty retail — where gift cards have supplanted long-standing paper gift certificates as the preferred means of pre-selling products and services. If you’re in these types of businesses, chances are you already have a gift card program in place. But plastic gift cards have found their way into many, if not most, non-traditional businesses as their general popularity grows among consumers. Automotive and motorcycle dealers, grocery stores, even pet-sitting services have had great success with gift card programs. But is it right for YOU? Here are three reasons you need to consider a gift card program for your business, regardless of what you sell.

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 slick gift card design is like a miniature billboard. Your glossy image is not only attractive, but it promotes and reminds people of your business. The larger plastic gift card providers can offer you a range of customization options. From standard themes, created for quick shipment, to full-color options that use your company’s colors, logos and images, there is customization available for any size business. Combine this with a variety of in-store promotional materials like fully custom card carriers and hangers, eye-catching displays, posters and more. Now, you have a multi-faceted campaign to promote your gift card and drive highly profitable sales.

Increase Your Revenue and Profits

You’re probably like most of us in that you wouldn’t mind building your customer base, driving more sales and more traffic. The great thing about a gift card program is that it positively impacts all of those areas of business growth. One gift card purchase will represent at least a couple visits to your establishment — one trip to buy a card, and at least another to redeem it. And, often, those coming to redeem the card may be new to your business. And a share of them will like your business so much that not only will they, too, become loyal customers, but they also will start telling their friends about it. Gift cards have now helped increase your customer base and traffic. And all these consumers are coming to purchase something using their card, often something a little more expensive than they might have without 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.