What is History of the Beachhead Market || Difine Beachhead Market

The history of the beachhead market is quite interesting. The word “Beachhead” came from the army and it is related to war strategy.

For example:

• One country is planning to attack another country.
• Now, the strong country will station their soldiers on the beaches. These are known as “Beachheads” and they make posts on beaches.
• They have crossed boundary but next is the sea, and crossing the sea is not so easy.
• If the enemy enters through the sea route, they are already in a position to attach their enemy.

This is the concept of the “Beachhead market.” There is a large sea in front of you but you have to make a sharp attack, therefore you should understand the beachhead market.

Key Note #2: Theory of beachhead market

The beachhead market can be defined as a market segment in which you have a dominant market share. This can be explained with the help of the following points:

• It does not mean how large the market segment is, it means one market where you have a dominant market share.
• This one market segment will give you access to other adjacent markets as well. When you will be rooted here in a perfect manner& host your flag in this market segment, it will take you to other market segments. It is your beachhead market where you will have the dominant share.
• The beachhead market is always small in size, but it does not mean your business will be small.
• It means if you want to learn as a startup you might fail many times, you might pivot in your business model, product & service. You will get quick customer feedback and finally, you will make perfect products fundamentally.
• Therefore, you should do all these experiments in your beachhead market so that when you reach multiple markets you don't face failures.
• When you fail on a big scale it is very hard to manage, but when you fail at a small scale you can manage with customers and make a good company.
• Therefore, it is very critical for you to understand the beachhead market.

Key Note 3 # 7 Steps to define a Beachhead Market

These 7 steps were explained earlier in the first video, but now they have explained again because they are critical in defining a beachhead market. These 7 steps of beachhead market can be explained as follows:

1. Is the Target Customer Well Funded?
2. Is the Target Customer Readily Accessible to your salesforce?

• Can your salesforce reach your target customer easily or not?
• If your sales force cannot reach your targeted customer easily, it will a wastage of money to hire them.

3. Does the Target Customer have a Compelling Reason to buy?

• Is there any strong reason for which the customer is willing to buy your product?
• The customer is keenly interested to buy your product.

4. Can you give a Full Product with the help of your Partners?

• Can you give a whole product with the help of your partners?
• Or you will go to the customer, give him the partial product, and ask for an advance because you are as a startup.
• You should give an excellent experience to your customers that he is deeply impressed.
• This can be explained with the help of the following example:

• Suppose you are making a physical product, you should not scale it to 10,000 customers.
• If you have limited money, you should make only 100 perfect pieces of good products that are liked by the customer. You will get word of mouth and your business will grow.
• You should not make 1000 pieces who are completed by 70-80% only and you use a low-quality product just to increase the number of units or revenue.

5. Is there an Entrench Competition?

• Are there any competitors who will finish you immediately as you enter the market?

6. If you Win This Segment will you expand to Adjacent Markets?

• If you win this beachhead segment successfully, will it help you in reaching other adjacent markets quickly & without spending more money?

7. Is the Market consistent with the Values & the Passion of the founder?

All these questions are part of step 1& 2 because step 1 was about market segmentation. The beachhead market is a part of the market segment, so it is very important to answer these 7 questions in both the videos.

Key Note #4: Till when should you keep segmenting the Beachhead Market?

Beachhead market is a small market where you should have a sheer focus. Your focus should be like Arjun of Mahabharata who focused only at the eye of fish rather than complete fish. Similarly, you don't have to see the entire fish, you have to focus on her eye only.

You should keep on segmenting until you fulfill three important conditions. These conditions are explained as follows:

1. The customers within the market must all buy similar products: This means that paying customers in your beachhead market should buy similar products. It can be explained with the help of the following example:

• In your beachhead market, 10 customers buy product A, 10 customers buy product B, 10 customers buy product C & 10 customers buy product D. Now A, B, C& D are 4 different products. You will not launch all 4 products in the market, rather you will produce only 1 product out of these 4. Out of the base of 40 products, there will be 10 customers who are your beachhead market. But you have to keep in mind that your customers should buy similar products.

2. The customers within the market have similar sales cycles & expect the product to provide value & a similar base: This means that the customers in your beachhead market should have a similar sales cycle.

•  For example, it can be B2C (directly business to customer), B2B (business to business). There should be a similar sales cycle such as when you start pitching for 3-4 months and he decides to buy the product.
• B2C decision is quickly but B2B decision takes time.

3. There is word of mouth between customers in the market: This means there should be a high word of mouth between customers in your beachhead markets. If you provide good services to your customer & explain to him about your product, there are high chances that the customer will advertise your product & play the role of an advocate for your product. Therefore it is very important that in your beachhead market, there should be a strong word of mouth between you & your customers.

Till you don’t fulfill these three conditions, you should keep on drill down your market again, again & again. You should not stop until these 3 conditions are not fulfilled.

Beachhead market can be explained with the help of the following example of Facebook as follows:

• Today Facebook is the world’s largest social networking site, but when Facebook started, it created a network only around Ivy League Colleges known as TheFacebook.com.
•  It was specially created to connect the students of Ivy colleges only such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, etc. After that, it grew on a large scale.
• That time Facebook founder Mr. Mark Zuckerberg had clarity about his beachhead market that was Ivy League College students.
•  These rich students of Ivy colleges had a lot of money and they actually wanted to do networking. This is the perfect example of a beachhead market.

You have to follow these 3 steps in your massive action plan.

Massive Action Plan

• Define your beachhead market: You have to define your beachhead market through primary research of your market.
• Further, drill it down to a smaller size: You have to apply three conditions explained in the video and customize your beachhead market to a smaller size.
• Remember the three important conditions of a perfect beachhead market.

You should always remember these three conditions discussed and ensure to fulfill these conditions when you create your beachhead market.