As the old IT saying goes, "garbage in, garbage out." This phrase rings true when it comes to working with Large Language Models (LLMs). The quality of your prompt is directly related to the quality of the output you receive. Think of yourself as a chef, and the prompt as the ingredients for your culinary masterpiece. Use the right ingredients, and you'll end up with a delicious output. Use the wrong ones, and you'll be left with a burnt cookie. As a technology expert who's spent countless hours tinkering with AI systems, I'm here to help you crack the code of effective LLM prompting. Think of it as learning to speak a new language - one that helps you get the most out of these powerful AI tools.

The Importance of Prompting

Prompting is what guides the LLM to understand what you're looking for, how you want the results displayed, and how you want it to respond. Larger LLMs, such as OpenAI and Claude, allow you to create projects, which enables you to set instructions and repeat prompts for similar results. For instance, you might have a project called "Blog Articles" with your preferred language style, tone, and output style. By doing so, the time, effort and resources you spend setting up the prompt can be reused later down the track. Getting it right the first time, may take some extra effort, but if you are going to be repeatedly using the same prompt, future you will be thankful you have taken the time to set it up correctly to begin with and your efficiency gains will be met at those points in time.

Principles of Prompting

To get the most out of your LLM, it's essential to set up your prompts carefully. This can take some time to get used to but following a few principles can help you create high-quality content from the get-go. Here are some key ingredients to include in your prompt:

Clear Objectives: Start with an action word (e.g., write, create, generate) and clearly define the deliverable. Avoid ambiguity, models work best from direction and “lanes” to keep in. Letting models go rogue, will end up with rogue results.

Specified Format: Outline the format you want (e.g., bullet points, table, paragraphs) and specify necessary details like headings, column titles, or paragraph counts. How do I want the output to look? Do I want it to create an excel sheet, a PowerPoint, a PDF?

Defined Role/Expert: Assign the LLM a role or perspective (e.g., CMO, lawyer, educator) and clarify the level of expertise needed. Do I need high school level output, graduate level, senior management level etc.

Audience Clarity: Identify the intended audience and include relevant details about their preferences or needs.? Are you trying to explain something to a 2-year-old, or a 40-year-old professional?

Context and Background: Provide necessary background information (e.g., brand voice, product details, previous campaigns) and ensure there's enough context for the LLM to align with your goals. Do you have any colour palettes, style guides or marketing collateral that can be used as a basis for the final output?

Examples of Success and Failures: Share examples of what good output looks like and include examples to guide the LLM. Previous examples of great emails, great newsletters, great articles. You can also upload poorly written emails, poor examples of work that you can define you DO NOT want it to be anything like.

Constraints and Boundaries: Set clear limits (e.g., word count, specific inclusions/exclusions) and outline what's required and what's off-limits.

Tone and Style: Describe the tone or style you want (e.g., formal, casual, funny) and share examples or phrases that align with your preferred style.

Extra Details for Value: Add extras like sources, summaries, or step-by-step explanations to make the output more valuable for the reader.

Example Prompts

Here are some example prompts to get you started. Prompts are an art form with a bit of science. Or maybe more science with a bit of art. Either way, you may need to tweak and try a few times to get it right for what you want. As a guide and foundation hopefully, you can create prompts that match your achievement level, and you can save to reuse later:

" Write me a 1,000 word blog article in Australian English. Acting as a technology journalist I want a funny, casual article that would be best suited for business owners and technology professionals on the subject of [Subject]. I want the article to be in a similar style to my previous works [Work 1] and [Work 2]. I want any statistics to remain and be unchanged. Do not make up any statistics that do not exist in the subject matter. Create a captivating heading for the article based on the final output. Come up with 10 hashtags that would be suitable for the article. If there are any lists, please use dot points to structure them in the article and not numbers. “

"I’d like you to help me to analyse my current tasks and identify which I can delegate or outsource. Also, provide clear instructions for delegating them effectively. [Insert list of tasks]."

"Below I will share a description of my typical day. I’d like you to examine my daily tasks and suggest ways to automate them. Also, provide a list of any tools or systems I can use, with a sentence or two about their benefits and any drawbacks. [Insert daily tasks]."

Ingredients for Creating Fantastic Prompts

To create effective prompts, you can use various techniques and here are some example ingredients:

Role Playing:

Asking the LLM to Act like a specific expert or persona.

•             Act like Steve Jobs

•             Act like Elon Musk

•             Act like Stephen Spielberg

•             Act like a comedian

•             Act like a Writer

•             Act like an SEO specialist

•             Act like an Interviewer

•             Act like a Consultant

•             Act like a Coder

•             Act like a Doctor

•             Act like a Human

•             Act like a Historian

•             Act like an Artist

•             Act like a Nutritionist

•             Act like an Assistant

•             Act like a Life Coach

•             Act like a Pro Marketer

•             Act like a Salesperson

Writing Styles/Tone of Voice:

Choosing the style and tone you want the LLM to produce its output with.

•             Formal

•             Informal

•             Opinionated

•             Persuasive

•             Descriptive

•             Humorous

•             Narrative

•             Inspirational

•             Confrontational

•             Explanatory

•             Assertive

•             Confident

•             Engaging

•             Witty

•             Direct

•             Personable

•             Casual

Prompting Techniques:

What kind of technique do you want the LLM to use?

•             Brainstorming

•             Feedback

•             Comparative analysis

•             Ordering

•             Fill in the Blank

•             Multiple Choice

•             Prediction

•             Open-ended questions

•             Instruction-based

You can use these guides to make a prompt format like this:

"Take on the persona of [Expert Persona]. [Strong verb] [format and length] [Objective]. Ensure that the output contains pertinent [Data]. Adopt a [Tone of voice] tailored to the specific [Audience]."

Good Prompts vs Bad Prompts

Here are some examples of good and bad prompts to spark the thought process of expanding on the "simple question".

Technology Inquiry:

Bad Prompt: "Tell me about EV?"

Good Prompt: "What are some breakthroughs in electric car technology in the last two years?"

Business Insights:

Bad Prompt: "How do I increase sales?"

Good Prompt: "What are some proven market entry strategies for a new tech product in a competitive market?"

Historical Analysis:

Bad Prompt: "Tell me about history."

Good Prompt: "Could you analyse the economic impacts of the Treaty of Versailles following World War II?"

Below are some more general prompt ideas and starting points that you can base your own off of to try and get started on your own prompt journey:

Marketing Prompts

1.      Write a (X Character) meta description about my blog article about (insert topic). Or Review my blog article (link) and write a (X Character) meta description on it.

2.      Create a social media post that targets [audience] and explains how my product [insert product description] can help them .

3.      Write a new product description of (X Words) for my product (insert product outline).

4.      Analyse the below metrics from my email campaign and provide insights or trends of open rates and other metrics.

5.      Provide me 3 ideas for a blog post about (topic, product, idea).

6.      Write a (how many minutes) script for a video on (product, idea, service, company). You can then load these prompts into Runway, Sora etc.

7.      Create a personalised email draft for people that have signed up to my newsletter to thank them for joining our community.

8.      Generate a (X minute) video script for a Facebook, YouTube, Instagram ad campaign promoting our new (product, service).

9.      Write a new case study detailing (topic of choise).

10. Analyse this link (insert link) and create a summary with key topic areas and any key statistics that should be known. Write a (X word) article on the link using my style of writing (insert example of writing).

11. Create a brand new content calender for (X articles, blog articles) including keywords (past keywords to target). The calender should be spread out over (outline months).

Writing Prompts

1.      Compose an blog post of (X Words) taking on the persona of (persona). I want to focus the article on (Key areas, topics) and I would like the tone of the blog post to be (insert tone). Use (language e.g Australian, American English) and include an article heading as well as hashtags to use for my blog. You can gain insight to the topic by reviewing (insert documents, links, previous writings).

2.      Write a cover letter for a job application in the (insert industry). Attached is the position description I am applying for. Here are my previous resumes and profiles (insert LinkedIn description for example). Focus on (key areas) and my expertise in (list some areas of expertise).

3.      Our company has just had a crisis in (insert crisis e.g cyber incident, wrong emails sent out, incorrect data sent). Take on the persona of a crisis public relations expert and draft me an (email, press release) that explains that we are working on resolving the issue, we acknowledge that this has caused inconvenience and that we are working hard to fix it and we will let everyone know more information soon. (include other factors that may be relevant).

4.      Give me (Number of) subject lines for my article, newsletter blog (insert writing)

5.      Take my newsletter below and polish and improve the structure and tone by focusing on (what type of tone). Don’t exceed (X words) but the minimum should be (X words).

Everyday Business Prompts

1.      Create an agenda for a meeting about (meeting info) that will be attended by (roles attending meeting). Give me some examples of what should be included

2.      I need to prepare a PowerPoint presentation for a potential client on (presentation topic, material). Can you prepare a PowerPoint using the attached style guide, and provide some guidance on what should be included on each slide. The presentation should be aiming to go for about (X minutes).

3.      Reviewing these emails from clients about our service, please provide a sentiment analysis on their responses and categorise any key trends or areas that we should focus on as a company.

Helping Students Prompts

1.      Teach me (topic of your choice) and give me a quiz at the end of (X questions). Don’t provide me the answers but tell me if I answer them correctly at the end.

2.      Can you explain to me with examples (topic e.g fractions, probability, division etc)

3.      Can you provide me a summary of the (insert even e.g World War 2) and provide me any resources you feel will help me learn more.

4.      Can you provide a definition on the term (insert term)

5.      Write me a (X word) paper outlining the topic (insert topic). Here are the notes I have taken so far and information I have found that I want to include. (insert information). The paper should be in the format of (insert format expected – heading, introduction, body, conclusion etc).

There are many LLM models out there and subscribing to them all can be expensive. There are services out there like galaxy.ai (I have no affiliation with I just use it myself) which lets you create one prompt, and have outputs on all the major LLM’s at exact same time, to find the model that works best for you. Best thing its one monthly subscription fee so you can test it out and see what works for you. I believe there are others like you.com etc as well.

By following these principles and techniques, you can create effective prompts that help you get the most out of your Large Language Model. Remember, the quality of your prompt is directly related to the quality of the output you receive. So, take the time to craft a well-structured prompt, and you'll be on your way to creating high-quality content with your LLM.

I would love to hear your thoughts and what prompts, guides you use, and I can tailor it a bit more.