The issue isn’t AI content… it’s bad prompts.
AI is only as good as the instructions it gets, just like a camera doesn’t guarantee a good picture and design software doesn’t guarantee great creativity. Your outputs will also be vague, shallow, inconsistent, or strategically off if your prompts are. But if you use the right prompting method, AI can be a reliable addition to your team that boosts creativity, efficiency, and strategic thinking.
This guide explains why prompts are important, what marketers are doing wrong, and how to brief AI so that it makes content that is truly high-quality and fits with your brand.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Why Marketers Blame AI for What is Really a Problem with Prompts
Most of the time, people are frustrated with AI for the same reasons:
· “The tone sounds like a robot.”
· “It’s too general.”
· “It doesn’t get my audience.”
· “I need to rewrite half of this anyway.”
The model doesn’t cause these problems; lack of instruction does. AI fills in the blanks for anything you don’t say. You will get the most common version of a blog if you ask for “Write a blog about Facebook ads”. There’s no brand voice, no industry nuance, and no strategic angle.
The issue isn’t that AI can’t make good content – the issue is that most prompts don’t have:
· Context
· Limitations
· Clarity
· Purpose
· Examples
If you fix these inputs, the outputs get better right away.
AI Works Best When It Knows What You Know
AI works by using patterns to guess what the next word is most likely to be… but it can’t guess your brand guidelines, what your audience wants, or what your campaign’s goal is unless you tell it.
Think about telling a new copywriter everything they need to know about your brand, but not giving them any examples. Surely, you wouldn’t be surprised if their first draft didn’t feel right – AI works in the same way.
When you tell someone things like:
· The tone and style of your writing
· The type of people you want to reach
· The purpose of the content
· What not to include
· Examples of content you’ve liked in the past
…the model adjusts right away. To put it another way, your instructions need to be smarter, not AI.
Three Kinds of Bad Prompts (and What They Make)
· The Unclear Prompt: “Write a paragraph about SEO”. Results: Content that is generic and shallow, with no point of view or depth.
· The Overloaded Prompt: “Write 2000 words about SEO that are friendly, include stats, be punchy but also technical, but not too technical, and add jokes but not too many”. Results: Tone that doesn’t match, structure that doesn’t make sense, and messages that don’t gel.
The Missing-Context Prompt: “Write descriptions of these products”. Results: AI guesses the features, benefits, and positioning, which is rarely correct.
A good prompt is not too simple or too messy. It’s in the sweet spot: it’s detailed but not too much.
Here’s What Good Prompting Looks Like
A good marketing prompt has:
Part
Give the AI instructions on how to act. “Be a senior digital strategist who knows a lot about paid social and SEO.”
Goal
Tell us what you want and why. “The goal is to teach small business owners how to make their websites more visible in search engines.”
People who will see it
Who is this for? “Target readers who already know the basics but need help putting them into action.”
Style, tone, and format
Be clear. “Use clear subheadings and short paragraphs, and write in a professional but conversational tone.”
Limits
Word counts, phrases that are not allowed, things that must be included, and notes on structure.
Inputs or outputs that are examples
Show them a sample of content you like; it makes things much more accurate.
This is the same way that marketers tell designers, videographers, or writers what to do – AI just makes the process more official.
AI Doesn’t Replace Marketers; It Helps the Best Ones
AI makes the playing field even for execution, but not for strategy. The marketers who will do well aren’t just the ones who use AI; they’re the ones who know what to ask AI to do. Smart marketers use AI to:
· Look at different creative angles before choosing one
· Make multiple versions for testing
· Speed up research
· Improve messaging for specific groups
· Make existing content better by changing the tone, structure, and clarity
· Cut down on the time spent on repetitive tasks so they can focus on strategy that will have a big impact
Weak marketers try to let the model handle all of the strategy, and then they blame the model when the results aren’t good.
Here’s How Better Prompts Improve SEO Content and Cut Down on the Time it Takes to Rewrite it
One of the most important things about quality prompting is that it helps with search engine optimisation. Back in the day, SEO advice told people to stuff keywords into templated paragraphs – but now, search engines reward content that is relevant, expert, and real.
When you give AI the right information, it makes content that is:
· More in-depth and authoritative
· More in line with what users want
· Easier to read
· Easier for a human editor to improve
· Consistent with your brand voice
This efficiency is especially useful for small businesses that want to grow their organic growth. These SEO tips for small businesses are a great place to start if you want more general advice on how to get more people to see your site.
Useful Prompting Frameworks for Marketers
The C.R.A.F.T. Prompt Model
This is how to give AI a clear and complete brief:
· Context: the brand, the audience, and the background
· Request: what you want to be made
· Angle: the point of view or argument
· Format: the structure, length, and tone
· Trimming rules: what to stay away from
The Iterative Method
Don’t expect the first try to be perfect. Instead:
1. Make a draft
2. Ask AI to improve it based on feedback
3. Ask for different versions
4. Put the best parts together
Iteration is the process that turns good content into great content.
The Bottom Line – Your Prompt is What Limits AI
A lot of the time, marketing teams that complain about “AI content quality” are making the wrong choice. AI is like a mirror: it shows how clear, strategic, and purposeful the person using it is. If your prompts are weak, all over the place, or unclear, your outputs will be too.
AI can speed up production, boost creativity, and raise performance across all channels if your prompts are well-thought-out and strategic. Marketers don’t need AI that works better… They need to be better at prompting.
