Most people write prompts like they are texting an intern who already knows the business. "Write me a landing page for my course." Then they get flat, hedge-everything copy back and conclude AI cannot write.
The model is not the problem. The brief is. Every prompt below includes three things the bad version leaves out: who the copy is for, what constraint it has to respect, and a sample of the voice it should sound like.
The three ingredients that fix almost any prompt
Before the list, here is the pattern. Add these to any prompt you already use and the output improves immediately.
- Specific audience with a specific problem. Not "small business owners." Try "freelance designers who have three clients and no contract, and have been burned by a scope change."
- A hard constraint. Word count, banned words, structure, reading level. Constraints force choices, and choices are what make copy sound like a person.
- A voice sample. Paste 100 words you have already written and say "match this rhythm and vocabulary." This one change does more than any other.
Add a fourth when you can: tell it what to avoid. "No rhetorical questions as openers. Never use 'unlock', 'elevate', 'game-changer' or 'in today's fast-paced world.'"
Prompts for hooks and headlines
1. Write 15 headlines for [asset] aimed at [audience] whose main frustration is [problem]. Five should lead with a number, five with a specific outcome, five with a contrarian claim. Max 12 words each. No colons.
2. Here are three headlines that already worked for us: [paste]. Identify the structural pattern in each, then write four new headlines using each pattern for [new asset]. Show the pattern name above each group.
3. Take this headline: [paste]. Rewrite it 8 ways, each dialling up one variable — specificity, urgency, curiosity, credibility, contrast, simplicity, stakes, ease.
4. Write 10 first lines for a post about [topic] that make a specific claim in under 10 words. No questions, no "let me tell you", no scene-setting.
5. Our product is [product]. List the 6 objections a skeptical buyer has before purchase, ranked by how often they stop the sale. Then write one headline that pre-answers each.
Prompts for landing pages
6. Write the above-the-fold section for [product]: one headline under 12 words, one subhead under 25 words that names who it is for, and a button label under 4 words. The buyer is [audience]. Do not describe features, describe the outcome after use.
7. Here are 8 raw customer quotes: [paste]. Pull out the exact phrases customers use to describe their problem. Write a benefits section using their words, not marketing words. Three bullets, one line each.
8. Write a "who this is not for" section for [product], 4 lines. Be genuinely disqualifying — the goal is to lose the wrong buyer and increase trust with the right one.
9. Turn this feature list into benefit lines: [paste]. Format each as "feature, so you can outcome." Keep each under 18 words. Delete any that only restate the feature.
10. Write a FAQ of 6 questions for [product] using only questions real buyers ask before paying — pricing, format, refunds, time to value, licence, support. Answers under 45 words, no hedging.
11. Write three versions of the final call to action for [product]: one that emphasises the outcome, one that removes risk, one that names the cost of waiting. Under 30 words each.
Prompts for email
12. Write a 5-email welcome sequence for [audience] who just downloaded [lead magnet]. Email 1 delivers, 2 tells the origin story, 3 teaches one tactic in full, 4 handles the top objection, 5 offers [product]. Under 200 words each, one idea per email.
13. Write 12 subject lines for an email about [topic]. Six under 5 words, six that use a specific number or name. No emoji, no all caps, no "Re:" fakery.
14. Rewrite this email so the first sentence delivers the point instead of warming up: [paste]. Keep the same information, cut 30 percent of the words.
15. Write a re-engagement email to subscribers who have not opened in 90 days. Acknowledge the silence honestly, give one genuinely useful thing, and make unsubscribing easy and guilt-free. Under 150 words.
16. Turn this blog post into a 180-word email that stands on its own value, then links to the post for the full version: [paste].
17. Write a launch-day email for [product] at [price]. Lead with the specific transformation, list what is inside as 5 short bullets, name the price plainly, one CTA repeated twice.
Prompts for ads and social
18. Write 6 ad variations for [product] targeting [audience]. Each must open with a different specific situation the reader is in right now. First line under 12 words. No questions.
19. Write a 7-slide carousel about [topic]. Slide 1 is a claim, slides 2 to 6 are one idea each with a concrete example, slide 7 is the takeaway plus soft CTA. Max 30 words per slide.
20. I want to explain [concept] without jargon. Write three analogies from completely different domains — cooking, sport, home repair. Two sentences each. Then say which is clearest and why.
21. Write 10 single-sentence posts stating a specific opinion about [topic]. Each must be something a reasonable person could disagree with.
Prompts for research and positioning
22. Act as a customer of [competitor product] who is mildly unhappy. Write the review you would leave. Then list what our product would have to do differently to win you.
23. Here is our product description: [paste]. List every claim we make. Mark each as proven, plausible or unsupported. For the unsupported ones, tell me what evidence would fix it.
24. Interview me about [product]. Ask one question at a time, up to 12 questions, digging into who it is for and what changes after they use it. Then write the positioning statement from my answers.
25. Read this page: [paste]. Name the single sentence a first-time visitor is most likely to misread, and rewrite it.
Prompts for editing (where most of the value is)
26. Edit this for rhythm: [paste]. Vary sentence length deliberately. Cut every adverb that is not doing real work. Delete any sentence that only sets up the next one. Show the edited version, then a short list of what you changed and why.
27. Read this copy as three people: a skeptic who thinks it is hype, a busy buyer who skims only headings, and an existing customer. Give each one's honest three-line reaction, then one fix that would serve all three.
Two habits that beat any prompt list
Save your voice sample once. Keep a document with 200 words of your best writing and paste it into every prompt. Your output stops sounding like everyone else's on day one.
Never ship the first draft, but never write from scratch either. The right use of these prompts is to skip the blank page and land on a solid draft in ninety seconds. Then you cut a third of the words and add the one specific detail only you know — the client's name, the exact number, the thing that went wrong. That detail is what makes it yours, and no model can invent it.
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