One way to grow your business is to create your own marketing buzz. But an even better way is to build on someone else’s promotion, especially if they’re already drawing a big crowd. That’s the idea behind leveraging the momentum of Amazon Prime Day. Whether you sell on their site or not, it’s an opportunity to tell your story at a time when people are primed to listen. Take a look at these ideas to take advantage of Prime Day.

The Opportunity

During Prime Day, Amazon’s 142 million U.S. Prime members get exclusive access to the site’s lowest prices of the year. In the past, this event was limited to one day a year but in 2020, it was expanded to two days. It resulted in $10.4 billion in sales.

That creates a lot of buzz. The event can predispose people to look for bargains, even if they’re not shopping on Amazon. There’s an opportunity to benefit from that mindset by offering your own deals. You can’t call it Prime Day but you can still promote offers to an audience already primed for deals.

5 Ideas

The dates for Amazon’s 2021 Prime Day are June 21 and 22. With that timeframe in mind, here are some ideas to promote your own deals leading up to those dates.

1.  Focus on what makes you unique.

Most small businesses don’t have the scale necessary to be price competitive with larger retailers like Amazon. But they can compete on what makes them unique—local service and unique products/services. Another is the hometown advantage. A recent survey found that 82% of consumers say they’d spend more to support local businesses.

With that in mind, you could promote deals like: same-day local delivery, in-store demonstrations, locally sourced products or sponsorship of a local school’s activity.

2. Offer complementary deals.

You may not be able to go head-to-head on a product but you might on after-sale items. These complementary offerings can be a way to personalize their Prime Day purchase.

For example, electronics often play a key role in Prime Day. A local electronics store could offer deals that complement these devices. Maybe it’s covers for cell phones, personalized bands for smart watches or laptop zipper cases.

3. Be seen where people are shopping.

Remember, Prime Day shoppers are looking online. So it’s important to be visible on online platforms during that time. Paid ads on search engines like Google or Facebook can help keep you on potential customers’ radar.

Pay particular attention to being seen in local searches, like “pet stores near me.” Here are some quick tutorials from Google and Facebook to set one up. Be sure your business profile is up to date including your contact information.

4. Build your brand.

Sales don’t have to be the only measure of success during Prime Day. It’s also an opportunity to build your local brand. Being seen by online shoppers is the first step in establishing relationships that lead to future sales.

For example, invite shoppers to “like” your business Facebook page, sign up for your email newsletter or get a free how-to PDF from your website. The idea here is to take advantage of increased online traffic to establish a connection that you can build on and ultimately cultivate a customer.

5. If you can’t beat them, join them.

During the pandemic, some small businesses used online platforms like Amazon to supplement limited in-store sales. That makes them eligible to participate directly in Prime Day. The Christian Scientist Monitor quotes Amazon saying that Prime Day shoppers ordered over 40 million items from small and medium businesses. Reportedly, thousands of those businesses had more than $50,000 in sales on Prime Day.

This Beginner’s Guide identifies what you need to start selling on Amazon. The subscription fee ranges from $0.99 per item to $39.99 a month, based on how many items you sell. Here’s a breakdown of other fees you may incur (e.g., fulfillment, referrals). They also offer tools to track and manage sales.

Prime Day can be an important opportunity to grow your business, even if you don’t market on Amazon. See if one of these ideas makes sense for your small business.