- 1. Vague prompts with no structure
- 2. Asking Notion AI, well any AI, to think and do in one step
- 3. Ignoring my brand voice and UK English
- 4. No Source Content or Patience!
- 5. No Next step
- Starter prompt you can reuse after editing
- Your first tiny action
Notion AI didn’t save me time at first. I see oodles of examples where people have asked it to’write a blog post’ and they got bland text that I wouldn’t and couldn’t publish.
The thing is, the problem wasn’t AI. It was how I used it: vague prompts, no structure, and no voice. And most importantly, no ‘you’.
Here are five mistakes I made and the simple fixes, so you can avoid rubbish content that doesn’t hit. They apply to any LLM you’re using, but for me Notion AI is my first choice for organising my ‘what next’.
1. Vague prompts with no structure
If you ask any AI to ‘write a post about x,y,z…,’ you’ll get generic fluff. Instead, set the role, the goal, the constraints and the format. In fact, I can go one better and rhyme that for you.
- Role
- Who’s the AI to you? What role do you need them to play?
- Goal
- What’s the point of the prompt? What do you want them to specifically do?
- Patrol
- Ok, that’s a stretch. Just imagine this is the policing of your prompt to make sure it stays on course.
- Whole
- Again, a stretch, but how do I want the AI to respond as a whole?
- Again, a stretch, but how do I want the AI to respond as a whole?
See, that’s clearly me. I’m sure AI would’ve actually have done a better job, but I digress…
Ok, so what do I mean? I’m going to use an Accountant as an example (no offence to any accountants!) Here’s a bad example that I am 100% certain will have been thrown into Chat GPT more than once…
‘I’m an accountant. Write me a blog about how hiring an accountant is good for small businesses.’
Better example: ‘
You are a practical copywriter for UK small businesses. You have been tasked with creating a blog post for my Accountancy company “Create Better Accounts”. The Goal: I want you to outline a 900-word article. It needs to highlight how working with an Accountant will improve their business and why. I want small businesses in Cheshire that are searching for help with their accounts to find me. Constraints: UK English, short paragraphs, bullets, no jargon. Output: This blog will be going on my website. Break it down into Headings with 2–3 bullets each. Consider how to structure the article for search engine optimisation.’
Try it yourself and compare:
Look at your prompt history. Pick one and improve it. Rewrite it with a role, a goal, the constraints, and the output format you’re looking for that helps you with your goal.
Here’s a copy of the 2 prompts and their responses if you’re interested:
🚀 Accountancy AI response examples
Crucially the main difference between the two prompts is that one asks the AI to do it all, and the second only asks it to start thinking about doing it, which leads me nicely on to number 2…
Here’s your first step: Clearly bullet point the who, what, why and how of the prompt to develop a clear final output.
2. Asking Notion AI, well any AI, to think and do in one step
Split it. First ask for an outline (see mistake 1!). Then ask for a draft based on the outline. You get cleaner structure and copy you can actually use. Repeat the 4 pillars of Role, Goal, Patrol and Whole and then give it the outline from your first prompt.
Here’s how it might turn out!
Breaking out into actionable steps prevents your AI from drifting away on a tangent and allows you to inject some of your expertise and personality early on. It’s also WAY easier to redraft and tweak an outline instead of reviewing and fixing a full draft.
Here’s your first step: Break down what you want into manageable steps and focus on each as an individual prompt.
3. Ignoring my brand voice and UK English
Add three lines that pin your voice: clear, empathetic, action-oriented. Friendly but direct. Strategic but human. Reuse this in your prompts.
This keeps your output more human, and overtime, your AI gets to know your tone better, which makes each new piece of content sound more and more like you! Clever, right!
Here’s your first step: Create a 3-line voice block and be sure to include if you write in UK English in and paste it at the top of your next prompt.
4. No Source Content or Patience!
AI can’t guess your offer or audience. Paste key bullets first: who it’s for, what they want, constraints that matter. Better in, better out.
Consider the problem you want the AI to solve for your customers.
Also, Top Tip: if you’re using Notion for Desktop, ensure it has finished saving before you ask for the next step, so Notion AI sees the latest context.
Here’s your first step: Paste 5–7 bullets of source notes, wait for ‘All changes saved,’ then run the prompt.
5. No Next step
End every prompt with ‘Give me the first tiny action.’ It turns advice into movement.
Here’s your first step: Add to the end of your prompt: ‘Finish by giving me the first tiny action to take.’
Starter prompt you can reuse after editing
‘You are a practical copywriter for UK small businesses. Voice: clear, empathetic, action-oriented. Keep it simple, no buzzwords. Task: work with me to create an outline for an article that will go on my website https://my.website. First up we’ll need to decide on a suitable title that will be engaging and targeted to my customer base who are mainly “My customers”. Ideally it’ll be a SEO minded, but most importantly it’ll need to be focused on the reader. Structure of the article will be important for readability as much as for search. Include H2’s with 2–3 bullets each. I don’t want you to write the article in full, first up let’s just get the skeleton of the idea started.’
Your first tiny action
And in the spirit of starting with the first tiny action, here’s yours! If you want the reusable prompt pack and examples, it’s available for you pinch below. Or book a free 45-minute consult and we’ll wire this into your workflow.
