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rest of the curve. After the early adopters embrace what you’re selling, they are the ones who will sell it to the early majority—not you. And they will sell it poorly. (Moore talks at length about moving through the rest of the curve. I highly recommend his book.)
    You must design a product that is remarkable enough to attract the early adopters—but is flexible enough and attractive enough that those adopters will have an easy time spreading the idea to the rest of the curve.
    Digital cameras have been attractively priced for about five years. At the beginning, only gadget-heads and computer geeks bought them. Digital cameras were a little tricky to use, and the quality wasn’t great. Over time, the camera manufacturers obsessed about fixing both problems and were rewarded with dramatically increased sales. Digital cameras are well on their way to replacing film cameras. This shift was not caused by great ad campaigns from the camera companies. Instead, it is the direct result of early adopters successfully selling the cameras to their friends.
    Digital cameras spread because they offer convenience and price advantages over film cameras. Better still, these advantages are obvious, easy to talk about, easy to demonstrate, and just begging to be brought up every time an early adopter sees a laggard pull out a film camera.
    Being remarkable in the right way helps you in two ways. First, it makes it far easier to attract the left side of the curve. And second, it makes it easier for these early adopters to persuasively sell their peers on the rest of the curve.

Ideas That Spread, Win
     
    Abrand (or a new product offering) is nothing more than an idea. Ideas that spread are more likely to succeed than those that don’t. I call ideas that spread, ideaviruses.
    Sneezers are the key spreading agents of an ideavirus. These are the experts who tell all their colleagues or friends or admirers about a new product or service on which they are a perceived authority. Sneezers are the ones who launch and maintain ideaviruses. Innovators or early adopters may be the first to buy your product, but if they’re not sneezers as well, they won’t spread your idea. They’re selfish in their use of a new idea, or they don’t have the credibility to spread it to others. Either way, they’re a dead end when it comes to spreading an idea.
    Every market has a few sneezers. They’re often the early adopters, but not always. Finding and seducing these sneezers is the essential step in creating an ideavirus.
    So how do you create an idea that spreads? Don’t try to make a product for everybody, because that is a product for nobody. The everybody products are all taken. The sneezers in these huge markets have too many choices and are too satisfied for it to be likely that you will capture their interest.
    The way you break through to the mainstream is to target a niche instead of a huge market. With a niche, you can segment off a chunk of the mainstream, and create an ideavirus so focused that it overwhelms that small slice of the market that really and truly will respond to what you sell. The early adopters in this market niche are more eager to hear what you have to say. The sneezers in this market niche are more likely to talk about your product. And best of all, the market is small enough that a few sneezers can get you to the critical mass you need to create an ideavirus.
    Then, if you’re good and you’re lucky, that innovation will diffuse. After it dominates the original niche, it will migrate to the masses.
    It’s not an accident that some products catch on and some don’t. When an ideavirus occurs, it’s often because all the viral pieces work together. How smooth and easy is it to spread your idea? How often will people sneeze it to their friends? How tightly knit is the group you’re targeting—do they talk much? Do they believe each other? How reputable are the people most likely to promote your idea? How persistent is