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I have a blog post that talks about products and services that solve a big problem for a small group of people. I mean, products that specialize in a segment and solve a problem that is very important for them. I am looking for a way to suggest that idea and express it in a short way.

Is it correct to say "help a lot to a few" or "to help very much to a few people"?

Is "help a lot to a few" correct? I know that is not a complete phrase. I want to be something short for a graphic. So I am looking for a suggestion more than an explanation. Is it correct in that context?

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  • Niche marketing?
    – JMP
    Apr 5, 2017 at 15:32
  • These products and services could be said to have "cornered a niche", especially if they are the only one doing a particular thing (although this does usually mean that most/all people in the niche use said product or service).
    – SteveES
    Apr 5, 2017 at 16:30
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    Or perhaps "big impact, small reach" (I don't think this is an idiom, I just made it up).
    – SteveES
    Apr 5, 2017 at 16:31
  • I like "big impact, small reach". But, is "help a lot to a few" correct?. (I am not native English and I am learning)
    – Nrc
    Apr 5, 2017 at 16:54
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    There are no small problems.
    – TimR
    Apr 6, 2017 at 17:38

1 Answer 1

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No, help a lot to a few isn't clearly worded. It's likely that English speakers will be vaguely uncomfortable with it since their brain will start to process it as a badly-ordered range (a lot to a little) before hitting the ungrammatical few and going back to reread and make sense of it. It works technically and maybe poetically, but is somewhat offputting as marketing.

If you are leaving off the subject à la Chinese, you should be aware that it works differently in English. Outside of text messaging, dropped subjects are almost always implicitly you: You're giving your customers a command that they should go out and help a few a lot.

So

We help a few a lot

is much more cleanly phrased. We help our few a lot is more personal. It's still odd that you want to draw attention to the small size of your customer base and their consequent strong negotiating power. It's probably more helpful to just leave it off (FOO: The experts in BAR; BAR Solutions; The best in the BAR; &c.) and muse over the contrast to yourself.

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