If you’ve ever struggled with maintaining an online blog or updating your website copy, your eyes probably lit up when ChatGPT debuted. You thought of all the time you’d save with the help of this handy dandy AI writing tool. That excitement probably turned to frustration after a few hours spent trying to craft the perfect AI prompt and wondering why every output sounded sooooo bad (don’t worry, we had the same experience), but this was all the way back in 2024.
AI writing has improved considerably since then, but good output still depends heavily on the context and direction you provide. Like any good tool, AI will help make your work easier once you know how to use it. And as readers become more familiar with the telltale patterns of generic AI-generated content, the goal isn’t simply to produce better AI writing, it’s to make AI writing sound like you.
The trick is understanding how to craft the kind of AI prompt for human writing that gives your robot of choice enough context to capture your voice rather than sounding like everyone else’s AI. The GreenCup copywriting team has spent enough time in the belly of the AI beast to figure out those tricks so you don’t have to.
Be Specific
Even the best writer in the world, human or robot, can’t give you the content you want if you don’t tell them what you want. To get the best out of AI writing tools, your prompts should outline specific parameters for the kind of content you need. Just saying something like, “Write a blog post about gardening,” is like playing the lottery. You might hit the jackpot, but you’ll probably end up with a blog that’s more at home in the recycle bin than on your website.
What specific aspect of gardening do you want to address? Who is your target audience? How long should it be? Should there be subheadings? What tone of voice do you want to use? Is this an informative post or a persuasive one? Do you have target keywords you want to incorporate into the blog? Do you want them to take action after they read it?
A human writer would ask you these questions before they started writing. Answer these questions in your AI prompt to get the best results.
Use Examples to Make AI Writing Sound Like Your Brand
AI isn’t very creative. AI writing tools are large language models (they let you call them “LLMs” once you get to know them), AI predicts language based on patterns learned during training and the context/instructions it’s given.
So, how do you get an AI writing tool to capture your unique brand voice? Feed it examples of writing from your business. Incorporate characteristic turns of phrase, blog paragraphs, and website copy that capture your business’s tone when writing your prompt.
For example:
“Write a 600-word blog post for a small West Michigan business that provides [service]. The audience is [audience]. The goal is to [goal]. Write in a conversational, knowledgeable voice that is friendly without sounding overly casual. Use the writing samples below as examples of our brand voice. Avoid clichés, excessive adjectives, generic introductions, and phrases such as [examples]. Include [keyword/topic] naturally and end with a CTA encouraging readers to [action].”
Don’t just tell AI:
“Make this friendly and professional.”
Give it actual evidence of what “friendly and professional” means for your business.
Provide:
- 2–3 examples of content that sounds like the brand
- preferred vocabulary
- words/phrases the brand avoids
- sentence-length/style preferences
- degree of humor or personality
- audience
- examples of what doesn’t sound like the brand
Tell AI What You Don’t Want
People often focus entirely on instructions for what AI should produce. A strong prompt can also identify the habits you want it to avoid:
- Don’t use generic introductions.
- Don’t overuse em dashes.
- Avoid phrases like “in today’s digital landscape.”
- Don’t repeat the conclusion in multiple ways.
- Don’t make unsupported claims.
- Don’t make every section the same length.
- Don’t use exaggerated marketing language.
Give Feedback and Iterate
If you need proof that the AI-induced robot uprising is still a few years off, just look at the first draft of any AI-generated writing. AI may be rapidly changing, but one thing remains the same: it needs useful feedback to improve the next draft. Feedback such as “I don’t like it” isn’t nearly as useful as “The introduction is too generic. Start with the customer’s actual problem, shorten the sentences, remove the marketing clichés, and make the tone more conversational.”
If the first draft is disappointing, rather than starting from scratch with a new prompt, tell your AI writing tool to make edits. Say which parts of the writing were good, which parts need tweaking, and why. Be as clear, concise, and blunt as possible when providing feedback. Don’t worry about being too harsh; robots don’t have feelings (yet).
Give AI the Information It Can’t Know
For business content, don’t ask AI to invent the expertise.
Give it:
- original data
- customer questions
- SME interviews/quotes
- product/service information
- case-study results
- company-specific experience
- actual differentiators
Then use AI to help shape that source material into content. This is what turns generic AI-generated content into content that’s actually specific to your business. AI can help organize and communicate your expertise, but the original experience, insights, examples, and information should come from you.
Ask Questions
Still stuck on developing a useful prompt even after going through these steps? Use AI to help write a better prompt! Despite its many quirks, AI has thankfully taken the maxim, “Know thy self,” to heart (its cold, metallic heart). If you’re unsure what else you need to feed into the AI to get the output you want, just ask!
“What should I ask to help write an email for a small business marketing newsletter?”
“How can I ensure you write in my business’s tone and voice?”
“Tell me what you need to write this content.”
Responding with phrases like these can help put the finishing touches on your prompt and ensure you always get usable content.
Save Your Prompt Template
You might get the impression from all these steps that writing a good AI prompt is just as much work as writing the content on your own.
Well, yeah, it kind of is.
BUT it’s a lot of work that you only have to do once. Once you frontload the effort of developing a detailed, useful writing prompt, you can switch out details for future prompts to tailor each piece of AI writing to the content you’re after. Think of it less as writing a prompt and more like creating a template you can use for all future prompts. The first time takes a little elbow grease; every time after that, it takes just a few keyboard shortcuts.
Edit Edit Edit
Writing a good prompt and hitting “Enter” isn’t the end of the writing process! AI writing, even at its best, has a characteristic flavor to it. If you just copy and paste AI content onto your website, it won’t sound like you. It will sound like an AI trying to sound like you (because that’s exactly what it is). AI can help draft your content. It shouldn’t be responsible for your point of view.
Just like with a human, the last step in finalizing a piece of AI content is editing. Look for those odd word choices, repetitive phrases, and superfluous sentences that give AI its distinctive style, and clean them up with your own words. This injects more of your unique voice into the writing and leaves each piece of content looking less like R2-D2 and more like Arnold Schwarzenegger (minus the robot apocalypse, preferably).
As cool as robots are, do you know what’s even cooler? A team of human writers, graphic designers, social media experts, and digital marketing wizards. That’s what you get when you partner with the GreenCup Digital team, human strategy and creativity, with smart tools helping us along the way. Connect with us today to start putting your best branding foot forward!
FAQ’s
How do I make AI writing sound like me (or my brand)?
Give AI examples of content that accurately reflects your voice and explain what makes that writing sound like you. Include details about your preferred tone, vocabulary, sentence style, level of formality, and even words or phrases you tend to avoid. The more context you provide about how you communicate, and who you’re communicating with, the easier it is for AI to produce a draft that sounds like your brand rather than generic AI-generated content.
What should I include in an AI writing prompt?
A good AI writing prompt should include the audience, purpose, topic, desired tone, key information, content requirements, and call to action. Providing examples of your existing content can also help establish your brand voice. Just as importantly, tell AI what you don’t want, such as overly promotional language, industry jargon, clichés, or writing habits that don’t fit your style.
Can AI learn my brand voice?
AI can become much better at replicating your brand voice when you give it enough context and examples. Share content that represents your preferred style and identify characteristics you want it to follow consistently. However, AI doesn’t replace the perspective, experience, and personality behind your brand. Think of it as giving AI a strong style guide rather than expecting it to become your brand.
Should I publish AI-generated content without editing it?
No. AI-generated content should always receive a human review before it’s published. Check facts and claims for accuracy, remove generic or repetitive language, refine the brand voice, and add the first-hand expertise and perspective that AI can’t provide on its own. AI can help create the draft, but a human should be responsible for the finished content.
