How I Write Prompts for AI (As Taught by Google)
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I don’t normally do this but… Here’s a sample lesson from PromptWritingStudio. That’s my premium course, which teaches creators and business owners how to write effective AI prompts. You can check out the details here. The 4-Part Formula for Writing ChatGPT Prompts That WorkMassive AI prompts are off-putting to read, let alone use. The good news is you don’t need to write endless paragraphs of instructions, which are all the rage on social, to get good outputs. I spent a dozen hours reading documentation from Google and Claude's prompt engineers. They provide a straightforward framework for crafting AI prompts. An effective AI prompt has four essential parts. Persona: Tell AI who it should be. This sets the tone and expertise level. Here’s your fill-in-the-blank template to get started: You’re a [role] who [key characteristic]. Here’s a before-and-after showing how this works: WEAK PROMPT: “Write me some good hooks for my creativity course.” STRONG PROMPT: “You’re a copywriter who specializes in viral LinkedIn content. I need 5 attention-grabbing hooks for LinkedIn posts about my journey as a creative professional adopting AI tools. My audience consists of professionals in creative industries who want to stay ahead of tech trends. Each hook should lead into a story about overcoming initial AI skepticism. Please format each hook as a single punchy sentence, numbered 1–5, with a brief explanation of why it would work well on LinkedIn’s algorithm.” Another real example: WEAK PROMPT: “Help me write a blog post about AI tools.” STRONG PROMPT: “You’re a tech journalist who writes for creative professionals. I need a 1500-word article explaining how AI tools are enhancing (not replacing) creative work. My readers are professional writers and artists who want to stay competitive but are skeptical of AI. Include 3 specific case studies of creators successfully using AI. Format this as a long-form article with clear H2 headers, short paragraphs, and bullet points for key takeaways.” The outputs from these prompts are usable. I don’t use them verbatim, though. I clean them up, add a personal take, one or two facts, or a story based on my experiences. I break down how I use this approach here Pro tip: Run the same prompt through Claude and GPT and pick an output you like best. Your Turn: If you want lessons like this twice a week, check out PromptWritingStudio, |