Say what it should become, not only what it is about
“Write something about our new coffee” gets a generic answer, because the model has to guess the format, the length and the goal. “Write an Instagram caption of at most 60 words that gets people to order the new coffee before the weekend” gets something you can use.
Treat the prompt as a brief to a capable colleague who does not know the case: what to make, for whom, where it will be used, and what the reader should do next.
Give context before you give the task
The model knows nothing about you, your product or your customers. Whatever you leave out, it invents. Paste in what matters: who you are, what the product does, who it is for, and how you speak.
This is why people who work with AI a lot end up with a document they paste into every conversation. That document is, in practice, a brand profile.
Show an example of what you like
One example beats ten adjectives. Instead of “write warm and professional”, paste a text you are already happy with and say “in the same style as this”. The model reads style out of an example far better than out of a description.
Set limits, and say what is off the table
Length, format, language and tone are limits. Words you never use, claims you cannot back up and topics you stay away from are rules. Both belong in the prompt.
- Length: “at most 80 words”, “three short paragraphs”
- Format: “a bullet list”, “headline plus lead”, “one sentence”
- Tone: “calm and concrete, no exclamation marks”
- Rules: “never say revolutionary”, “no discount promises”
Ask for drafts, not the final answer
The first answer is rarely the best. Ask for three variants with different angles, pick the closest, and ask for adjustments: shorter, more concrete, a different opening. The conversation is the tool, not the single prompt.
You do not have to do any of this
If you would rather not think about prompts at all, that is what Marshi is for. You write one plain sentence; Marshi builds the full brief in the background from your brand profile and sends that to the model. Here is roughly what happens to a nine-word ask.
You write
Write an Instagram post about the new coffee.Marshi sends, in the background
- Brand: Nordkopp, a small roastery in Oslo. Voice: calm, concrete, no exclamation marks. Never say “revolutionary”; never promise discounts.
- Audience: people who want a slow, good morning; they buy for themselves, not as a gift.
- Product: Morgenblend, 250 g, light roast, in the shop from Friday, 189 kr.
- Format: Instagram caption, 40 to 60 words, the point in the first line, one call to action, three hashtags; a 4:5 image in the brand palette (deep green ground, warm cream text), no people.
- Rules: no health claims; name the shop and the day; three variants, closest in tone to the last three posts.
About 120 words of context for a nine-word ask, assembled from the brand profile every time. That is why the first draft is usually close.
A template you can copy
Who we are: [two sentences about the business]. Who we talk to: [audience]. How we speak: [three words plus one example]. Task: [what to make, where it will be used]. Limits: [length, format, language]. Avoid: [words and claims]. Give me three variants.
Fill the template once and reuse it. If you use Marshi, all of this already lives in your brand, and the prompt can be as short as “Write an Instagram post about the new coffee”.
In Marshi
In Marshi you set up the brand once. After that, “write a post about the launch” is a complete brief, because Marshi already knows the voice, the audience and the rules.
