Posts Tagged ‘gift cards’

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Attracting and Retaining High Performance Employees

Tuesday, February 14th, 2012

86% of businesses use employee recognition programs. Rewards and incentives can spur sales, improve retention and employee loyalty, and raise productivity.

The Incentive Research Foun­­dation (IRF) reports that incentives can attract and retain good employees, boost team performance by as much as 44% and increase individual productivity by an average of 22%.The right kind of recognition program can provide staggering benefits to an organization. In a recent WorldatWork survey 90% 0f businesses indicated that rewards and incentives improved length of service, 79% of respondents indicated rewards incented employees towards “above and beyond” performance, and 43% of respondents indicated that incentives led to peer to peer recognition.

This kind of data reveals that creating programs for employee rewards, recognition and incentives is a small investment that reaps significant returns. Not only keeping employees happy, but creating a work environment where the employee appreciates the company can lead to longer and more prosperous employee employer relationships. Ensuring that these rewards are properly and often communicated from the employer to the employee using different modes of communication such as a company intranet, email, bulletin boards, and the like help to remind employees constantly of the appreciation of the company for their hard work and dedication. Measuring success and gauging satisfaction of recognition and rewards programs is another important way to ensure that as an employer you keep your employees engaged in these programs is important.

Rewards do not have to be big, rewards can range from small spot rewards such as a gift card, and can extend all the way to more valuable incentives like a trip or extra time off.

For more tips on engaging employees in rewards programs that drive performance check out this Business Management Daily article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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Employers look to cut health care costs as premiums increase

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Health care premiums are increasing at an unprecedented rate, said to reach around $10,000 per employee in 2012. As a result employers are looking to cut health care costs whenever possible. Here are 5 ways employers may need to cut health care costs this year.

  1. Offering high deductible health insurance plans
  2. Steering employees toward cost-efficient health care providers
  3. Rewarding good health habits, penalizing bad ones
  4. Charging extra for spouses who can get health insurance coverage elsewhere
  5. Raising copays and share of the premium

Four out of these five actions are out of an employee’s control and will happen if necessary, regardless of employee behavior. But when employers reward good health habits and penalize bad habits, they are doing a service to their employees and to their bottom line. Rewarding healthy behaviors with small denomination gift cards or an afternoon off is a great way to gain desired behavior from employees and keep health care costs manageable. Healthy employees are more productive, and require less time off for medical attention and sick days. Maintaining a healthy and happy workforce could help employers prevent raising employee health care contributions and improve their employees’ overall well being.

 

For more information check out this Fox Business article on rising health care costs. 

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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Effective Social Health Games

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

Social health games have proven to be effective in the fight against obesity. Whether it is a friendly race, a push-up competition at the gym, or use of a health tracking application. These applications often provide rewards such as gift cards, and health tips to further the participants effort to live a healthy lifestyle. These games do not only provide a social component, which motivates individuals to continue with their healthy companions, but provides an easy opportunity to reward desired behavior.

These games and mobile apps could be a great way for employers to engage their employees in a health and wellness program without having to invest the money to create the program. Encouraging a particular social health app or a particular regiment would bring employees camaraderie and shared motivation to work towards rewards, and a healthy lifestyle. These social health games could essentially act as a ready-made health and wellness program for your employees. The only cost that the company would incur would be small rewards such as gift cards to help maintain engagement in the program and promote ongoing healthy living.

How does your company use social games to motivate employees to be healthy? For more information on specific social health games and platforms check out this U.S. News and World Report article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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6 Ways to Effectively Incentivize Safety

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

An effective safety rewards program can reduce injury and illness in an organization by 20-40%. Here are 6 ways to improve your safety reward program to ensure employees are being honest and using the safety reward program properly.

  1. Involve Everyone- Utilize employees at all levels to educate and enforce the safety program.
  2. Know Where You Are and Where You Are Going- Define the goals and objectives of the safety program and align those with the overall strategic goals and objectives of your company.
  3. Use a Combination of Recognition and Reward Strategies and Tools- Use a points program to allow employees to accrue points that can be used toward the reward of their choice. You can also recognize safe employees each month and reward them with a small spot reward such as a small denomination gift card that they can use as they see fit.
  4. Recognize Often, Publicly, and Genuinely- Genuine recognition can improve productivity and morale among employees, this may seem trivial but it is incredible important.
  5. Focus on Smaller Rewards for a Larger Number of People- Small rewards that are given readily are often more effective than a few large rewards like a travel package. Small, instant rewards such as gift cards, reinforce specific behavior at specific times.
  6. Understand that to Err is Human- Rather than punishing employees when accidents happen, make sure to recognize employees with excellent safety records.

 

For more information on how to maximize your safety program check out this Industry Week article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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Social Media as a Sales Tool

Tuesday, January 24th, 2012

For small businesses, using efficient, low-cost marketing is essential to growing a brand and growing the business. Social media is a great way for small businesses to spread their brand. According to a recent survey, 81% of small businesses use social media in their marketing plan, and that number is constantly growing.

Giving gift cards through social media outlets is a great way to handle customer service inquiries that are brought through social media. Gift cards are also a great way to reward and recognize loyal customers publicly. Social media provides inexpensive, effective ways to grow business and small businesses are catching on quickly. How is your small business using social media?

 

For more information on how your business can utilize social media check out the abc-13 article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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Inspiring a Healthy Workforce in 2012

Monday, January 23rd, 2012

This health and wellness incentives article caught my attention since it’s such an important channel for our gift card sales, but what kept my attention was Ken Baker’s sense of humor and fun approach. Baker, CEO of NewAge Industries “is willing to do whatever he can to encourage his employees to live a healthier lifestyle — including making bribes and bets.” His approach is more sophisticated than that statement leads one to believe.

There are many cute snippets in this story, like, if Baker’s sales manager Mike Allard lost 40 pounds in 2 months, he’d produce and wear a t-shirt printed with “The Man” in honor of him…if he failed to lose the weight, Allard would wear a shirt decrying defeat. It worked! The crux; motivation and incentives work to build a healthier workforce. “The programs, while voluntary, can offer financial benefits, including lower insurance premiums, gift cards and employer contributions to health savings accounts.” states Phillyburbs.com in Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives. NewAge Industries is just the kind of company that is taking advantage of federal health care reform policies that offers qualified companies grant money and tax credits to help such companies launch health and wellness programs. “By 2014, companies will be able
to offer rewards of up to 30 percent of the total cost of an employee’s insurance coverage.”

Small to medium sized business owner and not yet conducting your own health and wellness program? Read on, this is a great overview with interesting context and facts:Inspiring employee healthy lifestyles with employer incentives.

The author:

Stacey Sicurella is a 15 year marketing veteran, working in the Boston area for GiftCard Partners. Recent accomplishments include blogging with abandon, acquiring work-life balance and building amazing sand-castles with her children.

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Holiday Gift Cards- Use Them or You May Lose Them

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Total holiday spending on gift cards last year totaled $27.8 billion. And if history is bound to repeat itself, 25% of that gift card money will remain unspent by the end of 2012. Gift cards are a very popular holiday gift. They are convenient for the giver and stress free for the receiver. However, gift cards tend to be forgotten as the holiday season winds down, and recipients are less likely to spend the balances as the year goes on.

So what happens to unused gift card balances? The Securities and Exchange Commission allows retailers to count unused gift-card balances as income once they can reasonably say the card won’t be redeemed. Some states require unused gift cards to go to an unclaimed-funds accounts, or put a time limit on the validity of gift cards. Beyond the reasonable timeframe to claim unused balances, retailers can use the balances for general purposes.

So, as we move further into 2012, consider this a friendly reminder to spend your holiday gift card balances sooner rather than later. For more information check out the TheStreet.com.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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Using Health and Wellness as a Public Relations Tool

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

CITGO Petroleum is using local health and wellness programs as a fantastic opportunity to highlight their local efforts and community involvement in America. CITGO is giving Lehigh Valley Health Network $5,000 in small denomination gift cards as part of CITGO’s “Fueling Good” program. This program uses CITGO gift cards as small rewards for individuals involved in the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Health and Wellness program. The gift cards lower program costs for Lehigh Valley Health Network and allow them to continue their important work.

Gift cards are an extremely effective tool for use in health and wellness programs. They help reward participants for desired behavior, and don’t cost the program administrator that much. As is the case in this situation, gift cards are also a great way for program sponsors to get involved with health and wellness programs. CITGO was able to come in and help facilitate the positive program, while gaining favorable publicity.

 

To learn more about the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s Health and Wellness program and the partnership with CITGO Petroleum click here.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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5 Tips to Keep Your Employees Motivated in 2012

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Think of these 5 tips as your new year’s resolutions as an employer. As 2012 goes into full swing and the economy and job market continues to struggle and maintain instability it is important for the success of your business and your employees that you keep employees motivated this year.

1. Act as a role model to employees, this will help inspire them and help employees realize their work passions.

2. Clearly define the organizational vision, mission and strategy as well as employee goals and objectives. This helps keep motivation specific and focused.

3. Delegate challenging and meaningful work. Minimizing busy work, and maximizing meaningful projects helps employees see their direct impact on the company.

4. Create individualized personal development plans with employees. This shows employer dedication and commitment to employees.

5. Monitor employees progress toward goals and reward good behavior. Rewards do not need to be big, a small denomination gift card can be just enough to reinforce the good behavior without costing the company too much.

 

For more on how to motivate employees check out the Forbes.com article.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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How to Avoid Getting Your Customer Loyalty Strategy Wrong

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

Customer loyalty is key in the market companies currently compete in. Not only is the economy still recovering from a major recession, but the pace of media messaging causes consumer fragmentation that has never been seen before. Maintaining customer loyalty can make or break companies and their bottom lines. Here are three ways companies often get customer loyalty and brand loyalty programs wrong:

  • Neglecting existing customers- As important as it is to constantly bring in new customers and new business, it is equally important to maintain the relationships with existing customers, as they are already bringing the company revenue. It is important to focus on maintaining your existing loyalty base, giving them exclusive access or a special gift card as an incentive could easily meet their recognition needs without costing the company very much money
  •  Rewarding spenders but not sender- Spenders spend a lot of money with your company, and it is easy to recognize their loyalty. But senders or people who send their friends and family and use their personal networks to bring additional customers to your products are arguably more important to building and maintaining a successful business. Providing incentives, such as gift cards or discounts for referrals build brand loyalty with the existing customer, while creating the potential for further brand loyalty from the newly referred customers
  • Creating a loyalty program vs brand loyalty- whether you create a one-time program like a buy one get one free, or a long term program, such as a points rewards program, loyalty programs usually create loyalty to the program rather than loyalty to the brand. Customer loyalty to a brand originates from a customer feeling like they are being treated exceptionally by the company or the brand. The best way to do that is to take care of loyal customers on a case-by-case basis, essentially having no structured program at all, rather simply taking care of customers when needed, such as giving a gift card as a spot reward, or discounting a purchase when a loyal customer spends a large sum of money

Find the best way to treat your loyal customers in a way that makes them feel special, and it will keep them coming back consistently, and bringing their friends and family too. As we kick-off 2012 it might be time to re-evaluate your loyalty program, and ensure that you are getting customer loyalty right this year.

The author:

Rachel Merkin is a recent college graduate, beginning a career in marketing and public relations. She has been exploring the worlds of social media and B2B gift cards since 2006. When she is not blogging, tweeting, or finding ways to leverage Facebook as a marketing tool, she spends as much time IN or ON the ocean as possible, beaching and boating.

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