Health and wellness gift cards pose unique marketing challenges:

• Givers don’t want to offend recipients by suggesting that they have a problem that needs fixing
• Gift cards feel like a lazy gift – as if you didn’t care enough to tailor your gift to the recipient’s interests
• Givers can’t envision how the recipient would use a generic gift certificate
• Current customers love them – but only their birthdays and the December holidays really offer opportunities to “hint”
• Recipients who don’t know your business have a “Huh? What’s this?” reaction when they get your gift card

Here’s the cure:

Market your gift cards as highly targeted programs and services, rather than positioning them as generic last-minute gifts and stocking stuffers.

The best part is that it’s all about the marketing. You don’t need to change a thing about the actual gift card or gift certificate itself!

These five strategies help your wellness business turn gift cards into sales instead of afterthoughts:

1) Market gift cards that address a specific problem

Maybe you’d like more clients whose doctors just told them “You’re going to need to start taking Crestor if we can’t get these numbers down.”  Offer an “In Control” gift card that empowers people with self-care strategies.

Or perhaps you’d like more members with knee, hip and back problems. Market a “Healthy Back” gift card.

2) Market gift cards that address a specific segment

Want to get more kids in the door? How about parents of newborns? Or tweens and teens?

Package your yoga and massage classes into a HappyMoms/HappyBabies” gift card.

3) Market gift cards that address a specific hobby

Package your grocery store tours and cooking classes into a “Gourmet Gone Good For You” gift card. Partner with a bike shop to offer a family cycling adventure gift card.

4) Market gift cards that address a specific anxiety

Some clients worry about privacy, confidentiality, or discretion. They fear public ridicule or feeling that they’ve made a spectacle of themselves.

Perhaps a gift card marketed as “One-on-One Consultation” or “Private Lessons” or a “Customized Plan” would appeal to these folks.

5) Market gift cards that address hopes and dreams

Your customers might love the idea of a multigenerational bonding experience around Mother’s Day. Offer a Mom, Grandmom and Me package.

How about father-and-son golf lessons for Father’s Day? Or “CollegeBound” fitness and nutrition gift cards that help high-school kids avoid the freshman 15?