I wanted to become better at prompt engineering.

So I asked ChatGPT...

Here's the one prompt you need to get better at all other prompts. "I want you to become my PROMPT ENGINEER. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. You will follow the following process."

👇

I'm hiring authors for my Fortune 20 client.

Having read over 150 articles in the past three days, here are the top mistakes I see when evaluating writing samples. 👉 The first 5-10 words matter.

This is a big task with a lot of reading, so I don't read the headline. I just want to see if you can write.

Obvious or overly clever statements and irrelevant words are an instant turn off.

I read everything, but it's a chore.

Ok ok ok, hear me out...

@amandanat should be on every modern marketer's top 10 list.

These 3 threads will show you why... 1. Zero-Click Content

Not a new concept, but Amanda is pushing the boundaries on how much to give away without requiring a click or an email address.

The thing is, she also knows the balance of where and when to sell, and that is 🔑

👇more here:

https://twitter.com/amandanat/status/1551951984457965568

If a great premise for content gets you 80% of the way...

The next 15% is technique.

What do I mean, and how can you get better?

(a thread inspired by conversations with @akachukwuobial2 and @abdulganiyshehu) First, what is technique?

Google defines it as, "a way of carrying out a particular task, especially the execution or performance of an artistic work."

To me, this means obsessing over an infinitesimally small area of craft to improve.

Take writing as an example.

Once upon a time, I got a nastygram, and I loved it.

Some context, I hosted a show called Page Fights.

The premise was that @oligardner, @peeplaja, and a special guest, would absolutely eviscerate audience submitted landing pages.

And for the most part, people loved it... 👇 Others, not so much.

While rare, I got the occasional nastygram about how we exploited the audience, or mean, or how it wasn't a good look for any of us.

Maybe they were right.

But here's why it was awesome.

People hated the show for the same reasons others loved it.

I just demoed a new A.I. assisted writing tool, and boy oh boy... 🤯

Some thoughts... 1️⃣ It won't replace humans but...

It will make people who know what they're doing more deadly.

This tool generated a headline off of a seed term, then generated an intro that riffed off the headline.

The writing was solid, however...

Most of the information out there about storytelling and marketing is bullsh*t.

This might be too.

But here are 10 principles about storytelling I learned from when I was an actor. 1. Stories are always about people.

Everything always has some level of relatedness back to The Reader/Viewer/Listener.

If it's an SEO article, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 the person is searching?

Video: 𝘸𝘩𝘺 do they click?

Podcast: 𝘸𝘩𝘺 do they listen?

What do they get out of it?

I've edited articles for industry leading companies like Shopify Plus, QuickBooks and GoDaddy.

That content has contributed to over 9 figures in revenue.

Here's the abridged version of the editorial process I use for every single piece. 1. Scan the entire piece first

Readers scan, so as the first reader, so do I.

Do the subheaders pull me in? Do the images grab my attention?

If not, that's my first note.

Over the past 10 years, I've run content operations for everyone from small agencies to a Fortune 500 companies.

Here are 5 things I have learned along the way... 1. Map your process out first.

I manage this by stages of production.

Here's an example:

▪️Idea
▪️Outline
▪️Needs assignment
▪️Assigned
▪️In production
▪️First review
▪️Second draft
▪️Final review
▪️Upload
▪️Scheduled
▪️Published
▪️Final

Map this out first.

Next Tuesday.

5pm est / 2pm pst

@realBrookNash comes on to #TheCuttingRoom

Here are 5 reasons I'm excited to have him on. He doesn't forget the big picture:

https://twitter.com/realBrookNash/status/1423008336379727873

Over the last 10 years I've edited hundreds of articles from dozens of freelancers.

Here are my most common pieces of feedback. 1. Cut the first 300-500 words

This is usually the author "clearing their throat" and 90% of the time, the good stuff is buried that far in.

My three favorite quotes from last night's episode of "The Cutting Room" with @jimmy_daly...

👉 "If you're going to write something and present it as a piece of work, you better have thought through every single way a reader could develop skepticism." 👉 "I want to help this writer think more broadly about the company they work for, the industry they're in, and the reader where this piece is just the tiniest little sliver of their day."

Fear as a powerful and effective marketing tactic:

Here are 3 reasons it's a bad idea to use it...

...and 3 things to do instead. 1. Fear gets people's attention but...

When you crank up the fear in the beginning, you have to work twice as hard to make people calm.

Try too hard, and you trigger people's bullshit detectors.

"I don't know what I was put on this Earth to do..."

This is one of the many reasons why, I think, Soul has resonated so much with everyone, and is why it has been generating SO MUCH discussion.

The movie is an exploration of existentialism at it's finest.

(A thread) - Passion vs Purpose
- Living up to expectations
- Being your own worst enemy
- Feeling "stuck"
- Taking the mundane for granted
- Not seeing our impact on others

Would you be satisfied if you died tomorrow?

These are universal themes we've all contemplated.

I want to take a moment to appreciate @Etsy's email marketing team First thing I notice in these subject lines; they're sort.

That brevity is just enough to get me curious and see what's inside.

My favs fit in this tweet.

- One word: Wow
- One of each please!
- You've got to see these 👀
- One for you, and you, and me...🎁

I mean... wow

Starting my consultancy has lessons from mentors ringing in my head.

1. Start closest to the money 💰 @peeplaja

Spending company money, I'd drive TOF traffic to attract people to the product.

Now I'm the product. If that BOF page isn't legit, I'll work 2x as hard at the top. 2. Drive the least amount of traffic to get the most qualified leads - @HanaAbaza

I don't want to waste time creating stuff that won't bolster my expertise.

This doesn't mean everything is an ad, but it does mean I'm working backwards from my transactional pages.

Here is a simple thing I find missing in many articles that I edit... ready for it?

A thesis.

What is this article about?

Wrap the entire concept up in a single sentence and you're on the right track.

"When operations and marketing tech work together, profit happens." "When SEO and Editorial are in sync, new reader will be found and retained."

"Using Instagram for product businesses works when you combine high quality pics with ___"

"Without a central thesis, content languishes and doesn't find it's footing."