The Art of Prompting GenAI: How to Talk to AI So It Actually Listens
By: Travis Fleisher
“ChatGPT is amazing... when it works.”
Ever said that? You’re not alone. Most people try generative AI once, type in a vague prompt, get a mediocre result, and move on. But here’s the secret: it’s not the AI, it’s the prompt. Prompting is quickly becoming one of the most valuable skills of the AI era. You don’t need to know how to code, fine-tune models, or build APIs. But you do need to know how to talk to machines. And the good news? Anyone can learn it.
Why Prompting Matters
Imagine walking into a room with the smartest assistant in the world, but all you say is, “Can you write something cool... maybe?” Now imagine you walk in and say, “Write a LinkedIn post from the perspective of a Gen Z founder who just realized AI can do 80 percent of their job. Make it clever, relatable, and under 150 words.” One of those inputs gets you results. The other gets you something you delete in three seconds. Prompting is the bridge between your idea and the AI's output. Get it right, and GenAI becomes a true creative partner. Get it wrong, and it feels like talking to a toaster.
The Five Pillars of Great Prompting
You don’t need a technical background to get better at prompting. You just need to follow a simple framework. Here are five elements that consistently lead to better results:
1. Clarity
Be specific. Vague prompts lead to vague results. Instead of “Make this shorter,” try “Summarize this in three bullet points using plain English.”
2. Context
Set the scene. Give the AI a role or background. For example, “You are a marketing director at a sports tech startup writing a product announcement.”
3. Constraints
Give rules. Format, tone, word count—all of these help. Try, “Write it in under 100 words in a persuasive tone.”
4. Character
Specify a voice. You can instruct the model to sound like a particular persona or match a tone. For example, “Write this as if it’s narrated by a documentary filmmaker,” or “Make it sound like a confident startup founder pitching on stage.”
5. Chain of Thought
For logical or step-by-step tasks, ask the AI to think through its answer. Prompts like “Walk me through this like you’re explaining it to a high school student” work surprisingly well.
Prompt Makeover: From Meh to Meaningful
Let’s look at how a prompt evolves from average to impactful.
Original: “Write a tweet about AI.”
Improved: “Write a tweet announcing our new AI tool that helps athletes analyze performance. Make it sound visionary and grounded.”
Better still: “Write three tweet options announcing our AI athlete analyzer. One should be inspirational, one humorous, and one that sounds like it came from a founder pitching investors.”
Prompting is less about magic words and more about being intentional with your inputs. It's copywriting meets instruction manual.
Tools That Can Help
If you're looking for inspiration or want to see what others are doing with prompting, there are platforms that offer examples, templates, and even marketplaces for prompts. Sites like PromptBase and FlowGPT are great for exploring different use cases and learning how small tweaks in language create big differences in output. Many of the AI tools we feature on TwinBrain.ai also include intuitive interfaces that help users improve their prompts as they go.
Real-World Prompts You Can Use
Here are a few starter prompts you can try across different domains:
Marketing:
“Create five subject lines for a reactivation email campaign. Make them clear, playful, and performance-driven.”
Founders:
“Write a cold outreach email to a climate tech investor. Lead with traction, keep it under 200 words, and use a confident but not aggressive tone.”
Creatives:
“Generate image prompts for a Midjourney series based on the theme ‘AI meets nostalgia.’ Use cinematic language.”
Final Thought: The Prompt Is the Product
In this new era of generative AI, your skill in prompting determines the value you get from these tools. The more clearly and creatively you communicate, the more powerful the output becomes.
Prompting isn’t just a technical trick—it’s a core skill. It’s strategy, storytelling, and instruction wrapped into one. The sooner you master it, the sooner AI starts working with you instead of for you.
Travis