The five parts of any prompt
- Context: who you are, what your business does, and who your customer is.
- Task: exactly what you want, with a clear verb like “write”, “summarize”, or “compare”.
- Format: length, tone, language or dialect, and whether you want a table, bullets, or a paragraph.
- Constraints: what you don’t want, like “no exaggerated claims” or “don’t mention prices”.
- Example: a sample of what you like, even a single sentence.
From a weak prompt to a good one
Weak: “Write an ad for my restaurant.”
Good: “I own a family grill restaurant in Jeddah. Our customers are families looking for a weekend dinner. Write three short Snapchat ad lines, each under 15 words, in light Saudi dialect, focused on family seating and the Thursday special. Avoid words like ‘best’ and ‘number one’. Here’s a tone I like: ‘Your Thursday dinner, we’ll set it up.'”
Tricks that improve results
- Ask for several options instead of one, then pick and refine.
- For complex tasks, ask the tool to ask you questions before it starts.
- Split big tasks: first ideas, then an outline, then the writing.
- Define the audience precisely: “a small store owner who doesn’t know technical terms”.
- Ask it to review its own output against criteria you set.
Ready templates for business owners
- Analyzing reviews: “Here are my customer reviews [paste]. Group the recurring complaints and give me the top three problems with a practical fix for each.”
- Writing a product description: “Write a description of [product] for [describe customer]. Mention the problem it solves, three benefits, and a line inviting them to buy. 80 words.”
- Planning: “Create a two-week content plan for the Instagram account of [business], aimed at [goal]. Table: day, idea, content type.”
Check before you rely on the answer
AI tools can state wrong information confidently, especially numbers, prices, and regulations. Verify any fact before publishing, and don’t paste customer data or confidential information into tools whose privacy policy you don’t know.