Dream Big. Start Small.

That’s the theme of this year’s Small Business Week (May 4-8), according to the U.S. Small Business Administration which sponsors the event and actively promotes small businesses the other 51 weeks of the year as well.

There are 1.4 million businesses in the U.S. that see more than one million dollars in revenue each year, and 45% of them use gift cards as a reward for their employees or customers.

Last year, nearly half of all Americans received gift cards for Christmas. And, on Christmas Eve, our premier partner Starbucks was processing some 1,500 gift cards per minute! In surveys it turned out that people no longer think of gift cards as a “no-brainer” way to avoid shopping but rather as a thoughtful gift – and, in some cases, they even valued a $25 gift card more than an actual gift worth $50.

That leads us to the conclusion that, in order to Dream Big, you shouldn’t just dream about using gift cards when you get bigger but actually use them to seem bigger now! Reward loyal customers or incentivize them to spend more with you. Say “thank you” to suppliers who refer new customers to you. Show “appreciation” to suppliers for bending over backwards to help you in a crunch. Acknowledge employees for sticking with you, for meeting milestones, for exceeding customer service expectations.

We have more than 300 international brand gift cards to choose from and we can co-brand many of them with your identity as well – so no matter what your size, you play on an equal field with the big guys. Check out this video on our YouTube channel to see how easy it can be – and how dreams of getting big can come true.

Source: Incentive Gift Card Council and Incentive Research Foundation, “B2B Gift Card Market Study”, June 2014.