| Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash
NEW YORK (NAPSI) — Here’s a look at a hot trend and some innovative ideas for making the most of it.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the forefront of the modern workplace, promising a transformative shift in business productivity. However, the impact of generative AI is even more profound for solopreneurs and small businesses. AI lets entrepreneurs accomplish tasks previously out of reach due to limited resources or expertise.
The Democratizing Power of Prompt Literacy.
Consider the case of Own Your Brand, a firm that teaches small business owners how to tell their stories better using social media. Founder Lauren Magenta runs her entire business on Workspace. She often taps Gemini in Gmail to help respond to emails quickly and in a way that strikes the right tone, while pulling her voice and the correct details from previous conversations. She’s also successfully used Gemini to help build content calendar templates quickly, which frees up more time for her to focus on her client needs.
Understanding how to craft effective prompts can level the playing field for small business owners.
The Art of Prompting
So what makes a successful prompt? Consider generative AI as a new employee—it doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. For example, don’t assume the generative AI tool knows you’re writing an email to a senior executive or need a quick research summary instead of a detailed outline.
Think of prompting as a conversation—the more specific, detailed, and well-structured your prompts are, the better and more helpful the response will be. Prompt writing is an art, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but there are a few guidelines:
- Persona: What perspective do you want the AI tool to adopt? Depending on the task, this could be anything from a marketing expert to a customer service representative.
- Task: What specifically do you need help creating or refining? For example, you might ask the AI tool to generate ideas, revise an email with a specific tone, or summarize research.
- Context: Why are you creating this content or asking these questions? Providing context helps the AI tool produce more relevant and valuable responses.
- Format: How do you want the output presented? Do you want a professional or casual tone? Do you like the length closer to 100 words or 1,000 words?
While you don’t have to use all four elements every time, consider including some so that the AI tool can better understand what you’re looking for and deliver the best result.
Experimentation is Key
You can experiment with roles and job functions by asking AI to adopt various personas. For example, if you need fresh marketing campaign ideas, you can prompt Gemini to:
- • “Act like a marketing strategist specializing in local businesses. Develop four compelling winter campaign ideas for a bakery, incorporating current trends and focusing on the bakery’s target audience of local community members.”
- • “You are a seasoned marketing manager with a track record of creating successful campaigns for Fortune 500 brands. Channel your expertise to brainstorm innovative and heartwarming winter campaign ideas for a local bakery that will resonate with the community and drive foot traffic.”
A trial-and-error approach is key to learning how to apply this technology and get the desired output.
Building a Strong Foundation for Prompt Writing
Investing in prompt literacy is crucial for small businesses aiming to harness AI’s full potential. By mastering effective prompt creation, teams can ignite innovation, discover new applications for this technology, and foster a culture of experimentation.
To build this foundation:
• Encourage knowledge sharing among your team and with others in the industry.
• Use free learning resources to build your AI repertoire.
• Appoint an AI champion to guide your team (even if that champion is you).
• Chat with AI tools and ask for feedback on prompts to make them stronger.
Prompt literacy is not just a technical skill—it’s becoming essential for the modern workplace. By mastering the art of prompting, you can unlock the power of AI and transform what’s possible for your business. Embrace this new era with curiosity, creativity, and confidence, and watch your business reach new heights.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ms. Behr is the VP of Product Management for Collaboration Apps, Google Workspace.
