It can be easily done and in so many cases may be just the
little shot in the arm a struggling business needs. But why? How does this help
when so many businesses are struggling to get people the door right now? What
is a small business owner to do to sell cards if they can’t sell their products.
Well it is pretty simple really. First, we are all
struggling right now. I don’t care who you are, everyone is fed up, frustrated and
struggling with some aspect of life in the COVID era.
Take myself as an example. I was always working from home,
using Slack, and conducting meetings through Skype. My wife was used to a
couple of days a week of tele-work, so the transition was easy for her, we lost
almost no income. We live in an area with farms and small markets, so it is
easy to be supplied with all the things that ran short during the early months,
and we have a yard so the offspring are able to get outside pretty much every
day. That said, my wife used to travel a couple of times a year, which she enjoyed
and gave me a few evenings to myself occasionally. My mom recently retired down
to Florida and is lonely and depressed because she doesn’t really have a friend
group yet and is shut in because she is fearful of the cavalier attitude they
have taken toward the virus. Under ordinary circumstances I would bring her
here but of course that is not possible. Also, we have a very inquisitive 7
year old, which is great. But she wants to know EVERYTHING and so is a nonstop
font of questions that are really hard to answer. Which is fine I want her to
be a critical thinker and question authority. Just not DAD’s authority. If we
could send her to school during the day, we’d get a little break, and it wouldn’t
be so overwhelming in it unceasing consistency.
As I said we are extremely fortunate at a time when so many
people are not. It is people like me and my partners here at Web Samurai that
are looking for ways to help. Help our neighbors, help our community, and
support our favorite local businesses. But how?
Gift Cards. When you can’t get to the store, or you can’t take a friend out to dinner you can buy and give gift cards. We have found that the Restaurants who set up a digital gift card purchase portal can bring in many extra dollars that they might not normally have captured. Without question to have an easy secure way to prompt your loyal customers to support you is a boon to the bottom line. We have found that even during slow January at a time when restaurants are normally slow it is possible to make hundreds of dollars in gift card sales. Keep in mind that this is money on deposit, the business does not provide the goods until the card is redeemed which is immensely helpful. It is also a good practice to promote these on social media. We have found that a personal appeal does work. Do not be afraid to tell a story on your social channels and ask for the sale. It should not be surprising that there are people out there who are eager to help out with $50 or $100. It beats a “You Caring” charitable appeal. Also, at least, for restaurants it is possible to print some fliers, perhaps with a QR code, and place them with every to-go order, and in every check jacket for those few who can make it into the restaurant.