The 80/20 Rule

One of the first things I learned in Marketing 101 was the 80/20 Rule. That rule states that in virtually every category, 80% of the consumption is accounted for by 20% of the consumers.  Your job as a marketer is to identify those heavy users and influence their brand choice. You can pretty much ignore the other 80%. Which is why the public sometimes gets frustrated with traditional advertising. The odds are heavily that you're not in the 20%, the advertiser is trying to reach. It also illustrates the importance of technology that helps the advertiser target that 20%. You should actually be grateful that Google, Facebook, et al  are better able to discern into which group you fall. 

The chart below shows how this works for alcoholic beverages (although it's more like a 90/10 rule here). The next time you're watch an NFL game on TV, think about the fact that possibly half the people watching don't even drink beer.