Have you ever watched a telenovela?

I have. While flipping through the billion or so channels provided by modern cable companies the other day, I landed on a Spanish-language network. A telenovela — essentially, a Latin American soap opera — was playing, and I immediately got sucked in.

There was drama.

There was expression.

There was suspense.

And I loved every minute of it, even though I had no idea what the actors were saying.

That’s right — unless you count the three years of conjugation lessons I had in high school, lo siento, no hablo español.

The Power of Expression

After I had spent an entire hour watching this show in a language I didn’t understand, I sat and pondered for a moment. I had been totally absorbed in a drama where I had no clue what the people were saying. Yet I was fairly certain that I knew what was going on based on the visuals and the actors’ expression and tone. So much was communicated in other ways that the words themselves weren’t necessary for me to enjoy myself.

How is this relevant to content marketing? It helps us to realize that our tone and expression — how we communicate something — can be as important as what we say.

Here are three content marketing lessons I learned from my telenovela experience:

1. Use emotion. Emotion is powerful. People can easily tell if you’re passionate about something when they talk to you, and that also comes through via written word. If you’re not passionate about what you’re saying, how can you expect others to be? To accomplish this, don’t be vague, be bold and direct. There is a difference between “This sopaipilla is good” and “This sopaipilla is so good I want to marry it and have its kids!” Emotion is powerful. Use it to sell.

2. Use your hands. In video content marketing, this makes the most sense. But using the written word, I’ll equate it to using language or other tools that helps the reader paint a picture in their mind. Don’t say something “is big.” Say something is “HUGELY giganticized!” Going over-the-top to show your excitement from time to time isn’t a bad thing. It’s a great way to get your audience excited and help them gain a visual in their minds.

3. Volume works wonders. Volume is a great form of expression. Sometimes talking loud gets your point across best. But sometimes, it’s whispering that does the trick. When writing, volume can be font size, a graphic, or use of color. Using one of these techniques will let the reader know that something in your voice or tone is changing, it will get their attention, and it will make them take note.

Next time you watch a telenovela as a non-Spanish speaker, see how much you can learn from the cues you receive — then adapt these techniques to your own marketing efforts.