At our recent WSI conference, the keynote speakers were talking about an emerging new job title – “the prompt engineer”. The concept is that as Generative Artificial Intelligence evolves, the quality of the questions asked will be the differentiator that delivers the best results.
Is prompt writing for GAI tools going to be a prominent field in the job market of the future?
Where is AI going?
The future of AI is uncertain, as the rapid pace of development has left many companies struggling to keep up. Some are hiring expensive “AI whisperers” to stay ahead, while others are developing user-friendly software to make AI more accessible to everyone.
The pace of change is eye-watering – here’s a slide from Statista showing the pace of adoption of various new technologies over recent times :
We have recently come across a detailed guide for prompt engineers from Foundation – so, what can business owners and marketers take from it to use in their own businesses?
The anatomy of great AI prompts
If you want to use AI to perform specific tasks such as creating ad copy, generating content ideas, or assisting with SEO keyword research, there are some important steps to follow. Here are the four crucial elements of a prompt that enable AI to produce the desired outcome for you.
1. Define your objective clearly
First you must explain the outcome you want to achieve. To do this, be clear about things like the format, the target audience and desired tone of voice. e.g. Write a friendly email for golf enthusiasts to invite them to play a round of golf at our club. Avoid describing what you don’t want – here are some great positive AI action words to try : Translate, Classify, Summarise
2. Set the context
Give the AI tool some background context relevant to the topic – this will help the tool to keep the content relevant. e.g. It’s coming up to Summer, persuade people to come and visit the club and play a green fee round of golf
3. Give examples and structure
Giving an example of what you are looking for helps the tool decide the structure of your AI copy e.g. Example of a competitor email that we like the structure of. Be specific about the length of the article, number of summarising bullets and what structure to include where this is appropriate.
Once you’ve applied these 3 steps, here’s an example of what your prompt might look like :
4. Test and re-iterate
As with any communication, we sometimes need to refine what we are saying to get to the end result. If what comes up misses the point or is repetitive, adjust your questions. Always read, check and validate before you publish.
Following these steps will help ensure that your AI-generated content meets your copywriting needs.
Next steps for AI
Whether you are a “fast adopter” who already regularly uses copy generating AI, or a sceptic who is concerned about how much we can trust AI outputs, the reality is that emerging AI technology is going to change how businesses work. At this stage, we can’t predict exactly what will happen, outside of a fundamental change in the way that we use technology in our every day lives.
So, as we learn more, we will share more, so watch this space!
Please do reach out to us if you’d like a conversation about AI and how you might use it to help in your business.
