In the book, "Tuned In" by Craig Stull, Phil Myers, and David Meerman Scott  (y'all know how much I love David Scott's books), the authors say one single line repeatedly.

"Your opinion, while interesting, is not relevant."

By this the authors mean that when it comes to knowing what will and won't work, what does and doesn't resonate, and what can or can't make your business a success, you simply cannot rely on what you alone like.  You MUST ask your target audience for their opinion.

I recently experienced a perfect example of this in action.

If you've been following my blog you know I'm writing an ebook.  A few days ago, I hired two different designers to each create a cover design comp for the book, both of which I liked for different reasons.

I put them side by side, labeled them A and B, and posted them to my facebook page and asked for people's opinions.

For a while it was pretty much split down the middle, then the crowd started to lean toward Cover A, which is the one I finally decided to use.  But the whole exercise made me start to wonder...

Why were some people so strongly pulled toward one or the other, and why was it so evenly split?

After looking at who chose which cover, I came to the conclusion that the people who preferred Cover B were the technical types.  Engineers, technicians, and computer-savvy left-brain folks.  Those who preferred Cover A were the artistic, visual, right-brain folks.

Cover B looks like a textbook manual.  Cover A looks more "fun".

I myself preferred B (and so did my husband), because I'm a geek and I like reading technical materials.  But I don't write that way, and the book is not a technical manual.  The audience I'm trying to reach are non-technical people!

So, if I'd gone with what *I* liked, I might have sent a visual message that runs completely contrary to what I'm trying to convey with the book.

Therefore, my opinion, while interesting, was not relevant.

I'm glad I asked.

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