The Trick to Strategic Prompt Engineering: Funnel Thinking

When I lead AI Transformations or training workshops for agencies and in-house teams, or even just present at an industry event, I am struck by how often I’m asked about prompt engineering. Now that ChatGPT boasts 180.5 million users and 73% of marketers are using generative AI in their daily work, it’s no wonder everyone is trying to get the most out of this new tech. In fact, the question I’m most asked is, “is there a cheat sheet to prompt engineering?” The answer is yes – but it may not be what you think it is.

In fact, here is a video explaining this process. I’ve also outlined it step-by-step below, if you prefer to read along.

The Strategic Way To Engineer Prompts

With this mind, I want to share one of my favorite and most valuable ways to utilize prompt engineering across all LLMs.

The trick is what I can “funnel thinking.” The idea is to begin with a broad prompt, question or ask, and then refine that output with more specific prompts until you have the precise output you need. Once you have the most price output possible, you can then marry you brand’s messages to match the output in order to generate your desired result.

But, you’re not done yet – your last step is to instruct the AI to name and remember the prompt sequence. I find it helps to instruct the AI to prompt you with the information it needs to run the sequence. This ensures you never miss a step in the future. And, that’s really the point of this process. You don’t just want to run an effective prompt sequence, you want to be able to quickly and easily run the same sequence again in the future.

Example of the Funnel Process: Speaker’s Bureau Development

For example, if you wanted to use generative AI to develop a speakers’ bureau, your first prompt could be something like, “Name the 50 biggest digital marketing conferences in the U.S.A.”

From that output of fifty conferences, you will then refine with specific prompts. For example when you get that first output, you could then prompt, “Of those, which ones accept speaker submissions.” This would eliminate all conferences that source their own speakers and don’t accept pitches.

From that output, you keep refining, “of those, which ones have attendees with XYZ job titles.” This will help ensure the next output only presents conferences whose attendees match your target customer.

From that output, your next prompt could be, “of those, which ones have attendees whose company size matches your desired target.”

From that output, your next prompt could refine the conferences that serve the vertical markets you want to target. And, then, your next prompt could refine the topics covered at each conference.

You keep refining until you have a few perfectly aligned target conferences to pitch. But, we’re not done yet.

Marry Your Brand Messages To The Final Output to Generate Your Desired Content

Continuing with the same speaker’s bureau example, once the AI has identified the most precise target conferences for your presentations, you want to marry your subject matter experts’ bio, background and expertise with each individual conference.

Then, direct the AI to write speaker pitches for each event. This is the best way to ensure the AI drafts copy that serves your brand and meets the specific requirements and needs for each event.

Final Step: Tell the AI to Name and Remember the Prompt Sequence

Your last – and most important step – is to instruct the AI to name and remember the prompt sequence. In keeping with the above example, I would name the prompt sequence, “Speaker’s Bureau Process.” I’d also recommend instructing the AI to prompt you with requests for the information it needs to run each step of the sequence.

By naming the sequence, ChatGPT, Claude, or whichever LLM you’re using will be able to quickly run this sequence in the future. And, by telling the AI to prompt you for the information it needs, you can rest assured no steps will be missed along the way.

So, give it a try and let me know how it works for you. And, don’t forget, if you’d like more tips like this, you can book me for an hour-long lunch-and-learn to showcase these general tips. Or, you can book me for a customized company or team training where I will help your company develop the right generative AI tech stack, including training to get the most out of the technology.

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Read more: The Trick to Strategic Prompt Engineering: Funnel Thinking