In the last year I have gotten myself a personal assistant, who helps me with many tasks in my personal and professional life, including: scheduling my day, doing background research for projects, drafting emails and reports and helping me learn a new language.
My assistant is very good. They work very quickly, seem to know the answer to anything and everything and can work on many tasks at once. They also never sleep and are available to me 24/7. Oh and they are not human. My assistant is ChatGPT.
Because my assistant is such a know-it-all, sometimes I expect them to read my mind. After all it’s easier to fire off a quick question, in the knowledge I’ll get an instant answer, than thinking in detail about what I need and providing a full brief for them to respond to. However as with my human colleagues, if I provide more information and context about a task they are more likely to deliver what I was expecting and hoping for.
Asking the right question is not always as easy as you might think and this is why a brand new profession, prompt engineer, has appeared over the last year or so. Prompt engineers are tasked with getting better output from AI tools, through problem solving and knowledge of AI training and evaluation processes.
But as complex as this sounds there are actually some really simple things that anyone can try that will improve prompts and lead to better AI responses.
Provide clear and detailed instructions in your prompts. Specificity helps the model understand exactly what you’re looking for.
Example: Instead of asking, “Tell me about dogs,” ask, “What are the most common breeds of dogs, and what are their typical characteristics?”
Break down complex tasks into smaller steps to guide the AI through a logical process.
Example: “First, explain the benefits of exercise. Then, describe how regular exercise can impact mental health.”
Request examples to clarify explanations and make the responses more practical and understandable.
Example: “Can you provide examples of successful companies that started with a unique business model?”
Specify the format in which you want the response, such as bullet points, a numbered list, or a structured paragraph.
Example: “List the steps to create a budget in bullet points.”
Mention the desired tone or style, whether formal, casual, persuasive, or informative. Provide examples of writing in the style you want either by referencing writers or copying and pasting full pieces of writing either by yourself or someone else.
Example: “Write a persuasive paragraph about the importance of dedicated practice in the style of Malcolm Gladwell”
Define the scope to focus the response on a particular aspect of a broader topic.
Example: “Describe the impact of social media on teenagers’ mental health, focusing on anxiety and depression.”
Explain who the response is for so it can be tailored for their needs.
Example: “Explain the benefits of air conditioning for a property developer.”
If you’re looking for a first draft of a blog article, why not copy in another blog article that you like to the prompt. This could be another article you have written to show your style and tone of voice, or could be another article on a similar topic
Example: “Write a first draft of a blog article titled ‘How to design a website’. Use this article “” as an example of the tone of voice that should be used.”
If the initial response isn’t satisfactory, refine your prompt with additional details or clarifications and ask again.
Example: “Expand on the previous explanation by including recent studies and statistics.”
Continuously experiment with different phrasing and structures to learn how the model responds best to your needs.
Example: “Expand on the previous explanation by including recent studies and statistics.”
Read our recent article for more tips on using ChatGPT for copywriting
