AI chat and writing tools have been making headlines in the marketing space, and for good reason. While they can have fun conversations with silly responses, they're also fantastic at working through the muck of brainstorming, outlining and even writing whole content pieces.
The problem? Marketers tend to get frustrated with the results their chatbot friends spit out. Sometimes the content is too generic. Or it doesn't include necessary information. Or it even completely misses the vision.
So how can you ensure you're getting the most out of these tools? By improving your prompts—here's how.
Speak to your robotic friend like it's human
Saying please and thank you to an inanimate robot chat tool is…strange. We know.
But that's not the only "human" element we mean here.
How would you write up a task for a human writer? Would you be sure to include word counts, messaging, brand intel and SEO keywords?
Our guess is yes. So why wouldn't you provide the same to an AI writing tool?
Expecting to get a fantastically worded, SEO-optimized, top-notch article from two sentences thrown into a chat tool is about as close to fantasy as you can get. So try prompts like this:
"Hey ChatGPT, please write me a 700 word blog post about lead generation tactics in HubSpot. Keep the tone casual and produce the tactics in list format with a powerful CTA to our HubSpot Action Plan. Include SEO keywords: HubSpot hubs, HubSpot Marketing Professional, HubSpot Sales Professional, lead gen, lead generation, and conversion rate optimization."
Rather than:
"Write me a blog about improving lead generation with HubSpot."
Treat prompts like a conversation, not an info dump
While it's essential to provide details and context, be mindful of keeping your prompts clear and concise.
Overly complex prompts can sometimes confuse the AI and lead to less accurate or irrelevant responses. Break down prompts into smaller, focused questions or statements to guide the AI's understanding. This way, it can provide more targeted and accurate responses.
Remember, it's a learning tool, and it needs guidance to improve! Let it know what it got right and wrong, and suggest areas where it can make tweaks.
By breaking down your feedback into responses to the tool's output, you create a feedback loop similar to what you would have with a human writer. This iterative process helps refine the AI's responses over time.
If you enter in your first prompt and it isn't quite hitting the mark, try adding qualifying changes such as:
"Thanks, but can we please reword this a bit to keep the tone more casual? This still feels slightly professional, and we can border on more conversational language!"
"I love the first three paragraphs, but the fourth feels a little too generic. Can you go into more specifics about ______ in that section?"
"This looks great, but I'm wondering if we can insert maybe 100 more words to cover _____ a little more in-depth. Can you add that information using this as a source: *insert link to source you would like to cite*."
Give AI relevant background information
AI chat tools are not all-knowing, despite their impressive algorithms. Especially when it comes internal company information or your personal preferences.
Take the time to educate your tool of choice about your brand, preferred resources to cite, successful campaigns or content and even your competitors.
Providing a little background information and context helps the AI better understand your requirements and deliver more tailored responses. Treat your AI tool as a collaborative partner and bring it up to speed on the knowledge specific to your industry or brand.
"Our brand is really focused on tech and software marketing in particular. So companies that specialize in SaaS, MSP, cybersecurity, telecommunications, VAR and more. Can you please tailor 10 new CTA options for us to use on our website that will gain traction within that industry?"
Ask for sources or justification
To ensure accuracy and credibility in your AI-generated content, don't hesitate to ask for additional sources or justification.
This is not to say that the chatbot will give you line by line citations for what it spits out to your prompt, but you can ask for references to help support what the chatbot is returning to you. By requesting additional sources, you can ensure that the information it generated aligns with your brand's standards and avoids any potential misinformation or inaccuracies.
