Three years ago, ChatGPT changed the world when it launched its artificial intelligence (AI) chat interface, and now anyone can ask it to create blogs, analyze their emotions or diagnose their rashes. It has been seen as a technology that could displace Google and replace entire generations of jobs.
But that’s not what happened. AI blogs, though great, still always sound like AI wrote them. Having AI analyze your emotions hasn’t replaced the value of a therapist. And while it can analyze your rash, you still need a doctor to prescribe the treatment.
The function of ChatGPT is positioned better as a high-quality intern, someone you can use to get a task off the ground, but you still need an intelligent manager to clean up the work and finish the project. No one should feel comfortable letting AI handle complete parts of their business just yet, but with a few tips and tricks, you can get AI to produce a higher-quality output every time.
There is a concept called “prompt engineering.” It means “the occupation or activity of writing instructions for an artificial intelligence program or tool to determine or influence the content that it creates.” Basically, the concept suggests that if you can design and write the “best prompt,” then you can get the “best output.”
That’s kind of a lie, because there is technically never going to be a “best prompt,” since every time you ask ChatGPT (or Claude or Gemini) to do something, you will get a slightly different answer. That is because these AI models are designed to be creative.
They will take your input, enter their large language model and return something similar — but not an exact one-to-one copy. You want these AI models to be creative. If they returned the same output for everyone, then there wouldn’t be any value. Everyone who used it would sound the same.
These models also hold onto individual memory. If you use them long enough, they learn what you like, how you like to phrase things and your overall conversational style. But what is the best way to write a prompt that gives you the most optimal output most of the time?
There is a secret prompt that I suggest to all of my students that has really blown their minds. I call it, “Prompting the prompt.” I tell them to communicate their goal with the AI model and ask it to write the most optimized prompt to insert into ChatGPT.
For example, let’s say you’re writing a 900-word blog post for Edge on “The Ultimate AI Prompt.” Originally, you might just ask AI, “Hey, would you please write a 900-word blog post about how to write the ultimate prompt for ChatGPT.” It will easily give you an article, but you’re going to have to go through and modify everything.
So I suggest rephrasing the initial prompt to: “Write a prompt that will produce the highest-quality article. The primary goal you are trying to communicate is ‘how to use ChatGPT to write the prompt and then the user can just copy and paste it.’ It needs to be 900 words long.” It would return something like this:
You are an expert educator, writer and AI prompt engineer.
Write a high-quality, original article that is approximately 900 words long explaining how to use ChatGPT to create powerful prompts that users can copy and paste to generate better content.
The article’s primary goal is to teach readers that the key to high-quality AI output is writing better prompts — and that ChatGPT itself can be used to generate those prompts.
Follow these instructions carefully:
1. Audience & Intent
– Assume the reader is a non-technical professional, creator, or marketer who uses ChatGPT but feels their results are inconsistent.
– The reader wants practical guidance they can apply immediately.
– Write with clarity, confidence, and authority, without talking down to the reader.
2. Core Message Requirements
– Clearly explain why most people get mediocre results from ChatGPT.
– Teach the concept of “prompting the prompt” (using ChatGPT to write better prompts).
– Emphasize copy-and-paste prompts as a simple, repeatable solution.
– Explain what makes a prompt high-quality (role, context, constraints, output rules, length).
– Show how better prompts lead to dramatically better outputs.
3. Structure Requirements
– Start with a strong introduction that reframes ChatGPT as a tool that reflects the quality of the prompt.
– Use clear H2 and H3 headings to organize the article.
– Include a step-by-step explanation of how to ask ChatGPT to write a prompt for you.
– Include at least one concrete example of a weak prompt vs. a strong prompt.
– Include a short example of a reusable “master prompt” concept (described, not just dumped).
– End with a clear, empowering conclusion that encourages experimentation and reuse.
4. Tone & Style
– Professional, clear and conversational
– Insightful but practical
– No hype, no fluff, no clichés
– Write as if this is for a respected blog or industry publication
5. Quality & Output Rules
– Do NOT mention that you are an AI.
– Do NOT reference this prompt or your instructions.
– Do NOT include emojis.
– Do NOT include bullet-point spam — use bullets only where they genuinely improve clarity.
– Avoid filler phrases and generic statements.
6. Length & Output
– Target length: approximately 900 words (±5%).
– Write the complete article in one response.
– Output only the finished article — no outlines, explanations, or commentary.
Now write the article.
You can then either copy and paste the prompt into ChatGPT or edit it to be more to your liking. Again, whatever you get from ChatGPT will always require editing and a human-in-the-loop review process.
It’ll be a very long time until AI is powerful enough to completely let it loose on certain business tasks. By asking ChatGPT to help design your prompt, it will get you from the initial idea to a 90% finished article faster than the runaround of prompting, editing, prompting, editing, again and again.
Tripp Stanford is the founder of GamePlan, a marketing consultancy that helps home-service businesses grow through digital advertising, local SEO, AI and automation. He also teaches AI Essentials for Business Applications at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
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