Beachheads

Small markets, big lessons.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 April 03, 2024 | [Read Online]( I was talking to a friend who is brainstorming concepts for a new meeting people/dating app. I liked the idea, but I said she needed an entry-point market, or what is commonly called a ‘beachhead’. I really believe in this concept for new business launches, because it allows you to narrow in, specialize, and gain traction within a specific community. You don’t have to stay within a beachhead audience forever, although if it turns out to be a large enough market, you can. By focusing on a specific group to test an idea, you can tailor the messaging, tailor the offer, even build the product or service just for that community. This reduces cost and increases message coherence — it resonates with people stronger, and makes you stand out from other options. Resonance In Competitive Markets In the case of my friend’s app idea, it’s obviously a market that is already saturated with options. If people think about apps to meet people, the defaults already exist, from Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, OkCupid, Coffee Meets Bagel, Plenty Of Fish, Match and so on. On top of these, there are already niche specific apps for Christians, the LGBTQ community, Jews, Muslims — even an app based on having a good credit score! It’s hard to beachhead into a niche market if there are already popular niche options. The key is to have a unique offer, some kind of concept or feature or premise that is different to everything else, and then apply a test of that concept in a beachhead community. You want perceived difference AND to resonate strongly with a specific group of people. Beachhead Options You can divide up beachhead audiences in many ways, for example: - Target a specific company. Just one large company can be enough of a beachhead if they have many staff or you have a high priced offer. - Target a specific industry. Dentists, Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants, Real Estate Agents, Online Coaches, YouTube Creators, Uber Drivers, Coffee Shop Owners, Toyota Car Retailers, Lasik Surgeries — the options are endless. - Target a specific location. This can be by street, suburb, city, state or country. - Target a specific culture. Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, German, Columbian …you get the idea. - Target a specific business type. SAAS providers, Agencies, E-Commerce brands, Shopify stores, Amazon sellers, eBay sellers. - Target by institution, club, community or activity. University students, golf club members, people who attend festivals, poker players, people who knit, marathon runners. - Target by demographics. Female, male, ultra-rich, in debt, old, young. - Target by lifestyle choices or religion. Vegans, gluten-free, halal, kosher, emo, gothic, skaters, surfers, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikh and so on. You can slice and dice in so many ways. You can also combine many of these target groups. Look for markets large enough to give meaningful feedback. You need a critical mass of users or customers to know whether you have real traction. While this decision might seem overwhelming, it should be easier to narrow down if you have something unique about what you are selling. Your speciality, concept, feature or product idea will likely have a target group that will resonate highly based simply on who they. A simple example of this, if you are selling a new kind of surfboard, target surfers in a specific city. Present them with what makes your surfboard different, and then sell it just in that local town. Testing Assumptions, Gathering Feedback And Creating Traction The reason you use a beachhead strategy is to learn and generate traction. - Customer feedback helps you to iterate to a better product. - Traction gives you cashflow to invest in growth. This results in a better product to sell to other markets, and the cash to expand into them. It’s an obvious strategy for a startup or new idea, when resources are tight and you only have assumptions about what people want. What target market to enter and how you present the offer to that market are the most important decisions you will make with a new product or service. The first beachhead audience doesn’t have to work. It probably won’t. You can try again with a different market and/or a different offer. As long as you are iterating on what you learn, you can’t help but succeed eventually. Yaro [fb]( [tw]( [ig]( [in]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here]( © 2024 Blog Mastermind Ltd 330 Avro Ave Pointe-Claire, QC H9R 5W5, Canada [[beehiiv logo]Powered by beehiiv](