Looking to use AI platforms like ChatGPT to save time and money for your business but not sure where to start? The key to using ChatGPT effectively is writing a great prompt.
Mastering the prompt can make tedious tasks simpler and less time-consuming. And help you create content and work more efficiently than would’ve previously been possible.
Making sure you’re asking specific, clear questions with the right amount of context is a skill. Find out how to nail your prompts and get the most out of ChatGPT for your business.
What is prompt engineering?
Prompt engineering is essentially learning how to talk to AI in the best way.
When you use a large language model (LLM) like ChatGPT, you give it instructions, which is called a prompt. Prompt engineering is the skill of carefully crafting these prompts so you get the response you want.
LLMs aim to give you a result, regardless of how good the prompt is. Taking the time to craft an effective prompt can be the most crucial step in getting the best results from ChatGPT.
Four ways to write great prompts for ChatGPT
A great prompt for ChatGPT should be clear, specific, and provide enough context for the AI to understand exactly what you want.
1. Be specific about what you want
ChatGPT can only work with the information you give it. And the quality of the response sometimes hinges on how detailed your prompt is.
For example, if you wanted some new ideas on how to market your coffee shop to new customers – a bad prompt would be ‘help me with my marketing. I need more customers. What should I do?’.
A good prompt would be: ‘I own a small, independent coffee shop in a busy city centre. Our target audience is young professionals aged 25 to 40 who value specialty coffee and a relaxed atmosphere for remote work. We mainly rely on word-of-mouth and I want to increase our daily foot traffic by 20 per cent within the next three months.
‘Please act as a digital marketing consultant and provide three actionable strategies that can help us reach our target audience and lead to more in-store visits.’
The bad prompt has vague details about the business and ‘what should I do?’ is too broad of a request.
The good prompt offers specific details about the business, the customer base, as well as what response you want. Asking for ‘three actionable strategies’ gives ChatGPT a clear focus for its response.
2. Give context to your request
Another key aspect of the good prompt is the context. With enough context, ChatGPT can better evaluate what’s helpful and what isn’t.
The way you would market your coffee shop in a small town might differ to a big city, for example. But without that context, ChatGPT might recommend eye-catching branding to draw in passersby when you’re in an area with little footfall.
And by adding the unique selling point of the cafe, ChatGPT will understand what you already do successfully and might suggest something new.
3. Give a persona to use
If you’re using ChatGPT for content creation, like for email or social media posts, it’s important to suggest a persona for the response. LLMs will create content with a generic tone if you don’t give the AI any guidance.
A prompt saying ‘write an exciting social media post about a new clothing collection’ will create bad content.
But, ‘you’re the head of marketing for my clothing brand. Write an Instagram post announcing our new collection using an aspirational and conversational tone. The post should convey excitement, but also emphasise sustainability, quality, and fair pricing’ will create better content.
Giving the LLM a persona like ‘you’re the head of marketing’ helps contextualise your request. And the direction of ‘use an aspirational and conversational tone’ gives ChatGPT a tone of voice to use for the content.
4. Refine the response
The key to getting the most useful responses from LLMs like ChatGPT is to keep refining the prompt until you’re happy with the result. Adding more context or guidance on the tone helps generate something more unique to your business.
If you were trying to generate social media ideas for your bakery, for example, here’s how you might refine a prompt with ChatGPT:
- ‘Give me some social media ideas for my bakery.’
- ‘I have a bakery called ‘Sweet Surrender’ that sells artisanal bread and pastries. I want to increase engagement and get more people into the store. Give me social media content ideas for Instagram and Facebook.’
- ‘Act as a social media strategist for my local bakery. Our target audience is local families and foodies who appreciate quality ingredients. My goal is to increase Instagram and Facebook engagement and drive more in-store sales. Please provide five detailed content ideas’
When you refine a prompt, think of ways you can make it more specific or add more context and personality. And if you’re struggling, you can always ask ChatGPT how to improve the prompt.
The pros and cons of ChatGPT for business owners
When you use an LLM to help with tasks in your business, it’s important to know how to use it effectively while understanding its limitations.
The pros of ChatGPT for business owners
- a content creator – it allows you write, create images and videos, and generally bring your ideas to life
- a personal assistant – ChatGPT can make processes simpler and less time-consuming. Aspects of customer service, data entry, content creation, and accounting can all be made more efficient with an LLM
- a creative partner – beyond content creation, ChatGPT can help with brainstorming ideas, doing competitor research, and breaking creative blocks
The cons of ChatGPT for business owners
- potential inaccuracies – LLMs are designed to give you a response but that doesn’t mean they’ll always be correct. You shouldn’t rely on ChatGPT for important tasks and be sure to double check the facts and figures
- risk of plagiarism – ChatGPT draws its ideas from what already exists on the internet. If you’re using it to create ‘original’ content, there’s always a risk it’s based on something that’s copyrighted
- limited knowledge on free version – the knowledge cut off for ChatGPT varies depending on which version you have, with some not updated since 2023. So if you’re trying to use it for market insight or industry trends, it has limited knowledge
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