My grandfather was a plain man. He was born in a tiny town in the mountains of Spain. He remembered the civil war, and often told me about the enemy planes’ bomb runs and his military service.

(don’t worry, this isn’t a repetition of yesterday’s post)

He understood that educated people were the ones in the planes, hell, even the ones protected elsewhere MAKING the planes, instead of being the infantry or civilians on the ground being bombed by said planes.

He eventually became a math teacher, and demanded that I read. He wrote a sign with a green marker and he taped it in our living room. It said “Darío, you must read at least 5 minutes a day”
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Reader, I did NOT want to do that.

But I tried for him, even if I didn’t understand his motives.

Doing so changed my life.

But why did I do so?

Surely, my grandfather was no master copywriter. His words were plain and simple. And I did NOT want to comply.

This thought process has led me to understand something: People don’t take action because of an idea. They don’t take action because of the words that transmit the idea. They don’t take action because of who the speaker is. Rather, it is a combination of all three that make people take action.

I call it The Action Equation.
Someone takes action based on:

Power/Benefit of the idea to the receiver X Strength of the message X Trust in the person who delivers it.

Think of Martin Luther King. Many people shared his idea. But he delivered it perfectly. And he had the trust of many.
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Think of Churchill and his “We will fight them…” speech. That speech would have carried less weight from a person up a wooden box in the street than from the prime minister.

So, when it comes to converting with words:

Make sure your idea is beneficial to the reader, packaged correctly, and that you have built the trust for them to take action based on your words.

This leads me to LinkedIn (finally, I know). But also to any other written text.
Write about interesting things, yes.

But do it well enough.

And make sure that the reader trusts you. (Trust is built over time by association, similarity, or past value exchanges).

This equation is multiplicative. A 10/10 idea with a 3/10 copy or delivery and 3/10 trust gets you only 90/1000. Great ideas and mediocre copy from a brand-new startup no one knows don’t get you mediocre results, they get you terrible results.

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So next time you write something, think:

-Is this a good idea?

-Are these good words?

-Does this piece of content build trust with the reader?

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When you post, try to say YES to as many of these as possible. But if you feel a bit lost, don’t worry. I’ll cover how to do all of these in the next issues, from broad strokes like these to granular tips and tricks.

In next week’s newsletter I’ll share the results of my latest LinkedIn experiment. We'll explore how value creates or breaks trust, and how copy can change the way value is perceived.

PS: Inspired, outraged, or anything in between? Let me know by replying to this email. Seriously, if this helps you, if you have questions, or if you have an idea for another edition, just hit reply!

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​Prompt of the week

Every week I leave you with a question or prompt for you to write a LinkedIn post. Did you do it? Send me the link here or on LI!

• What’s something someone told you that has changed your life? Explain what and why in under 150 words, starting with a direct quote.

Need more help? DM me on LinkedIn or reply to this email and I’ll see what I can do!

Happy writing!
​Darío :)