You have tried the tools. You have typed something in, gotten something back, and thought "that was okay, but not really what I wanted." This is normal. And the fix is almost always the same: the problem was the prompt, not the AI.
A prompt is just what you type into the chat box. That is all. There is no special syntax, no code, no magic formula. But there is a real difference between a prompt that gets you something generic and one that gets you something very useful. This article teaches you that difference.
The Core Principle
AI responds to what you give it. If you give it something vague, you get something vague back. If you give it something specific, you get something specific back. That is the entire foundation of good prompting, and everything else follows from it.
Vague prompt:
Specific prompt:
The first prompt will give you a bland, generic email. The second will give you something you can actually send with minimal editing. The time difference in writing those two prompts is about thirty seconds. The difference in output quality is enormous.
The Five Things That Make a Prompt Good
You do not need to include all five of these every time. But the more of them you include, the better your results will be.
1. The task. What do you want the AI to do? Draft an email, summarize a document, explain a concept, brainstorm ideas, rewrite something, compare options. Be explicit. "Help me" is not a task. "Write a 200-word summary of this report focused on the financial implications" is a task.
2. The context. What does the AI need to know to do the task well? Who is the audience? What is the situation? What has already happened? The AI does not know your boss, your industry, your company culture, or your relationship with the person you are writing to. If any of that matters, say it.
3. The format. How do you want the output structured? A numbered list, a few paragraphs, a table, a single sentence? Do you want bullet points or flowing prose? Short and punchy or detailed and thorough? If you do not specify, the AI will guess, and it might guess wrong.
4. The tone. Should the output sound formal or casual? Confident or cautious? Friendly or authoritative? Tone is one of the easiest things to control and one of the things people forget to specify most often.
5. The constraints. What should the AI not do? "Do not use jargon." "Keep it under 100 words." "Do not include pricing." "Avoid sounding salesy." Constraints are surprisingly powerful because they prevent the most common ways AI output goes wrong.
Three Techniques That Work Every Time
Beyond the five elements above, there are a few techniques that consistently improve results across any tool.
Tell it who to be. Starting your prompt with something like "You are an experienced HR manager at a mid-sized company" or "You are a patient math tutor for a 10-year-old" gives the AI a frame of reference that shapes everything it produces. This is not a gimmick. It really changes the vocabulary, tone, and depth of the response.
Give it an example of what you want. If you have a sample email you liked, a paragraph that matches the style you are going for, or a template you want followed, paste it in and say "follow this style" or "match this format." AI is very good at pattern-matching (that is literally what it does), so giving it a pattern to match is one of the most effective things you can do.
Ask it to ask you questions first. This is one of the most underused techniques. Instead of trying to think of every detail the AI might need, try this: "I need to write a cover letter for a marketing director position. Before you write it, ask me the questions you would need answered to write the best possible version." The AI will come back with five or six smart questions. Answer them, and the resulting cover letter will be significantly better than if you had tried to include all that information in your original prompt.
The Most Important Habit: Iterate
The single biggest difference between people who find AI "okay" and people who find it very useful is this: the second group does not stop at the first response.
After you get the initial output, talk back to it. "Make the opening paragraph shorter." "The tone is too formal, make it warmer." "Add a specific example in the second section." "Rewrite this but assume the reader already knows the basics." "That is good but I also need you to address the budget concern."
Each round of feedback makes the output better. Most good AI results come from three to five rounds of back and forth, not from one perfect prompt. Treat it like editing a draft with a fast, tireless writing partner.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Being too polite at the expense of clarity. You do not need to say "Could you perhaps, if it's not too much trouble, write me something that might work as an email?" Just say "Write an email that does X." The AI does not have feelings. Clarity beats politeness every time.
Asking for too many things at once. "Write me a business plan, a marketing strategy, and a financial projection" in a single prompt will get you a shallow version of all three. Break complex tasks into steps. Get the business plan first, then use that as context for the marketing strategy.
Not reading the output critically. AI will sometimes produce text that sounds confident and polished but contains errors, vague claims, or irrelevant filler. Always read what you get. If something sounds off, ask the AI to explain its reasoning or provide sources. Do not treat AI output as finished work.
Giving up after one bad response. If the first output misses the mark, that is information. Tell the AI specifically what was wrong. "The tone was too casual," "you focused on the wrong thing," or "this is too long" are all useful feedback that will improve the next response.
A Quick-Start Cheat Sheet
For any task, try filling in this template:
Prompt Template
"I need you to [task]. The context is [situation]. The audience is [who will read/use this]. The tone should be [how it should sound]. Please format it as [structure]. Important: [any constraints]."
You will not need this template forever. After a few weeks of regular use, writing good prompts becomes second nature, the same way you learned to write effective search queries years ago. You just need enough practice for the instinct to develop.
A great prompt in the wrong tool still gives you a mediocre result. The next article shows you how to pick the right AI tool for the job.