Discontinuity is what the strategist looks for.  A single difference that adds up to a lot . This builds on what I said before about strategy being sacrifice. It you're trying to do everything you won't have the focus to look for the single difference. So you won't be able to simply or optimise.

I've put a couple of examples on the graphic. The first being the innovation curve which shows how typically a successful product is introduced and the proportion of the population who buy it. At the start its hardly anybody. At the end it can be almost everybody. So the key is to identify who is going to buy your product first. These are often a group called Early Adopters who love anything new and are prepared to pay a premium for it.  By the time you get to the middle of the population then it has become a mass market product. Probably by this time you will have competitors entering the market forcing prices down. But note how it is an S shaped curve not a diagonal line. It doesn't travel straight. Which means that at the start those buying it will be a tiny minority. But that doesn't make the product a failure. It just means that if you try to talk to everybody you are wasting most of your money. Because most people aren't ready yet. 

I turn next to Pareto's 20/80 law which is really a rule of thumb. What it is useful for is reminding us that 80% of sales are frequently accountly for by 20% of customers. The book All Consumers are Not Equal by Garth Hallberg demonstrates this will real retail data over and over again. So again if you talk to everyone actually you will lose out.

I come finally to the internet rule of thumb that 90% of web surfers browse. 9% link or comment on other people's posts and that only 1% get around to creating anything and posting it online. Which is a reminder that there is no average internet user. At least not anyone who has left a mark.

These types of discontinuity become second nature if you are a stratety person but if you aren't then it is a habit worth calculating. If I had to choose a minority of people to target who would they be. The age of mass marketing is over. Because even if you have the money to talk to everybody they are deluged with so much communication that they probably won't pay attention. So find someone who will or someone who might if you found a way to be relevant.