Businesses are quickly realizing the widespread opportunities for marketing via customized gift cards, with a recent rush of news stories going to great lengths to illustrate the incredibly varied ways businesses can expand their market control - and their customer base - with the use of the digitized cards.

The gift card industry continues to grow and earn more revenue, with the Huffington Post noting the industry will see a projected worth of over $120 billion over the course of 2013. And, not content to simply allow customers to purchase and trade them, many retailers are innovating and finding new ways to reach new customers via personalized gift cards. 

Best Buy has begun to implement a number of gift card-related promotions that draw attention to how successful the items can be in drawing in new customers. Earlier this month, Best Buy announced it would offer a $200 gift card to be used toward the purchase of a new iPad, if consumers brought in their older models for an exchange. Spurred on by the results, then they announced that consumers who purchase iPads online through their website will receive gift cards, ranging from $25 to $50, as an immediate rebate. 

More retailers get in on the giveaway trend
Best Buy isn't the only brand to realize that gift cards are a great way to create customer loyalty and return business. Target is taking the process even further, hoping to enact some social good with their efforts. Earlier this month, select Target outlets teamed with the Salvation Army to distribute gift cards to those in need of funds to shop for school supplies.

And earlier this week, a local District Attorney teamed with Target to offer residents gift cards in exchange for unwanted firearms, hoping to make a contribution that could inspire a drop in the area's crime rate.

For many retailers, gift cards are a way to form a community around their location - they can be used to inspire admirable behavior in the community, while also helping you to ensure that your customers will keep coming back to your store again and again. Personalized gift cards - and innovative uses for them - are helping to drive growth for retailers across the country.