Mountains out of molehills | The Horn & Halo Effects
Hey everyone, welcome back to B2B Courtship!, where we give you the specifics behind building digital relationships because whether we like it or not, Mindshare leads to Marketshare.
Today, we’re talking about Michelle.
Michelle's Story
It was Michelle’s first day at her first internship. She had wiped her clammy hands on her pants for the 5th time in 10 mins, and it took all her willpower to stay seated and keep her breakfast in her stomach. Which, unfortunately, felt like it was doing Olympic-level gymnastics.
Either way, she was here and there was a frowning lady that had to be the same age as her grandmother walking right toward her. If this was her boss for the summer, then she was in for a rough, anxiety-filled ride. Michelle had accepted her fate when a woman ran up to the lady, whispered quietly, and started rushing towards her.
"Hi, my name is Cindy," said the beautiful ginger, her voice filled with kindness. Michelle felt a wave of relief wash over her; maybe this internship wouldn't be so bad after all.
The definition
We’ve got two sides of the same coin here. The bias states that we tend to form our overall impression of someone based on how we view their individual characteristics. The halo part says that if one thing is positive, then everything is positive. The horn part says that if one thing is negative, then everything is negative.
And there’s usually no evidence besides our opinions to support them.
That’s why at the core, a cognitive bias is an error in thinking based on our twisted view of reality.
This was initially observed as a phenomenon in 1920 by psychologist Edward Thorndike. Thorndike did an experiment where he asked military officers to rate their recruits. These officers had only seen the recruits come into the camp but hadn’t spoken to them. The recruits who were taller and more attractive were rated with higher potential, and those who were the opposite were rated with lower potential. Essentially, unrelated positive perceived traits influenced their impressions.
The impact of these biases is multiplied in the primacy effect, which states that the first impression of someone or something is more important than all the impressions following.
So… our biases screw with how we view things then our brain forces us to see those things repeatedly through that original screwed lens. Pretty awesome, right?
Why they matter
These effects aren’t isolated to human-to-human interactions. We have the same biases in our views of companies. This difference, though, is that our first impression isn’t normally directly with the company. We might run across a review. Someone speaking about the company on a Slack channel. A recommendation for or against the company on Reddit. The effect is the same. The positive or negative quality of that impression forms the whole perception of the company.
This presents a unique challenge for businesses trying to build strong brands. While we can't control every perception of our brand, understanding these biases means we can't afford to ignore them.
I always say that if we’re not actively influencing our brand perception, someone else is.
How we can use it to build digital relationships & mindshare
Like I said, there’s a lot of this that’s out of our control, but we can still plant seeds out into the world. Here's how I'm using this to my advantage.
The core of my plan lies in positive associations. I want my name, my company D3mandable, and my community B2B Courtship floating around the internet in as many places as possible connected to something positive. Always helpful, always credible, and hopefully shared by someone else.
First, I’m pitching to HARO or help a reporter out. HARO is a centralized database of journalists and reporters asking questions or seeking quotes for stories their working on from huge companies like the Forbes & the Wall Street Journal down to our local news station. It works on a system of pitches, for free you get 10 pitches a month with varied paid plans from $19 to $149 per month. We’re not guaranteed a quote of course but each one is nod to your credibility. Consider this:
- Max out 10 pitches per month
- Get 4 quotes per year
- 1 of those 4 is from Bloomberg, Wall Street, or some other heavyweight
Boom on my website goes: “Featured in Bloomberg”
New person to my website “Oh wow, D3mandable was featured in Bloomberg, that’s legit.” Halo Effect goes to work.
HARO is now part of connectively.us but if you search it, it’ll show up on top.
All of us can spend an hour or two a month writing answers to report questions for the chance of the badge of credibility. Not to mention the SEO juice when the reporters link back to your website when they quote you.
Next way is public reviews. Not the easily forged reviews that people put on websites and that most visitors glaze over. I’m asking each person that I work with that has a great experience to post a review for me on LinkedIn profile.
Why? Authenticity. It’s a public review, attached to their LinkedIn profile that technically reflects back on their reputation. The impact is massively different than a quote on our website.
I have 1 so far with 2 more pending. I unfortunately do a lot of white-label work so I can’t request reviews from everyone, but over time this builds itself up to an authority asset by itself.
Long term strategy is clutch reviews. Clutch has two problems. It’s a pay-to-play platform, and the time needed. Anyone can spend the right amount of money and get a badge for top this in this area. I really don’t think I’m fooling anyone in the B2B space. Now what is valuable is the reviews, but the issue there is that it takes 15-20 mins for someone to give one. Takes a lot of effort on my client's end. How I’ll play the game is to pay my clients like $100 for their time and have them post a review for me.
Now, here's a tactic I'm a bit on the fence about, but I've seen it work well for other businesses. It involves sending out an announcement to my email list or sending a press release whenever I land a new client. This announcement would highlight three key things: who the client is, the challenge they're facing, and why they chose to work with me.
I'm hesitant about this approach for a couple of reasons. First, it feels a bit self-serving, like I'm giving myself a high-five. But on the other hand, it can be genuinely helpful for others. People on my email list might see themselves in the new client – they might be facing similar challenges or have the same reasons for seeking a partner.
So, how does this tie into the Halo Effect? By showcasing successful client partnerships, I'm creating positive associations with my brand. It subtly reinforces my credibility and expertise. People might think, 'Hey, if they helped X company achieve Y, maybe they can help me too.'
However, I'm planning to hold off on this tactic until I've built up a solid foundation of valuable content. I want to lead with helpfulness and establish myself as a trusted resource before promoting my client wins.
Ok so my biggest investment in the Halo Effect is B2B Courtship. It’s the content arm of my business.
We're cranking out weekly content in four main formats:
- Podcast: You’re listening or reading one now. We dig deep into a specific topic and how you can use it.
- YouTube Channel: I record myself on video during the podcast and release it on YouTube.
- Newsletter: We’re summarizing the topic so people can scan while still getting the main points
- Blog: We put the full transcript in blog form on the website so folks who like to read and re-read can consume it.
B2B Courtship is my long game. It's the foundation of my content marketing, and I'm building it from the ground up. I'm starting with zero, no established audience, no fancy platform. But I'm in this for the long haul, and I'm focused on creating a loyal audience of true peers – people who are in the trenches, working hard to build their brands.
This is a niche topic, and I'm intentionally steering clear of the usual buzzwords like "lead generation" and "revenue growth." Don't get me wrong, those things are important, but I believe that building genuine mindshare comes first. It's about establishing trust and credibility before pushing for sales. As I always say, mindshare leads to marketshare.
Now, here's how this ties into the Halo Effect. By consistently producing high-quality content and sharing it across different platforms, I'm creating multiple opportunities for positive first impressions. Someone might discover my podcast, then check out my YouTube channel, and maybe even subscribe to my newsletter. Each interaction reinforces the positive impression, building a halo effect around my brand.
It's like this: great content leads to a great first impression, and thanks to the primacy effect, that first impression influences every interaction that follows. So, when someone sees my content again, they'll remember that positive experience and be more likely to engage, share, and recommend. It creates a powerful loop that reinforces those good feelings about my brand.
That's the power of B2B Courtship. It's my way of strategically building mindshare, cultivating positive associations, and ultimately, creating a halo effect that attracts and retains clients.
And that’s all folks. If you found this valuable, be sure to subscribe to the B2B Courtship however you want to. Blog, email, youtube, podcast and let me know your thoughts. We’ll see you next time!
Remember Mindshare leads to marketshare. Until next time.
