Getting started with GPT prompts

You’ve tried ChatGPT a few times. Maybe asked it to write a social media caption or tidy up a paragraph for your website. But “master it”? Not quite. Here’s the good news: You’re closer than you think. With just a few simple techniques, you can go from dabbling to expert.

Zero-shot vs few-shot

This is just about giving examples.

• Zero-shot: You ask ChatGPT to do something without giving an example i.e “Write a product description for a scented candle.”
• Few-shot: You show ChatGPT a few examples so it knows exactly what style you like i.e “Here are 2 product descriptions I love. Now write one for my new lavender candle.”

If you love a particular tone or format, copy-paste it as an example. ChatGPT learns fast.

Chain prompts

Think of it like a recipe. Step-by-step. Instead of writing:

“Write me a blog post about booking tips.”

You say:

“Let’s break this into steps:

1. The topic
2. A perspective or angle
3. Suggest 3 titles
4. Now build a simple outline
5. Now write section one”

This gives you way more control. And the output? 10x better.

Multimodality

Sounds fancy. It’s not. It just means ChatGPT can do more than text. Here’s what it can do now:

• See images: Show it a advert or a product photo, ask what could be better
• Read PDFs: Upload your brochure or a customer survey and ask for insights
• Browse the web: Want the latest info on a competitor or trend? It can check for you

Next time you’re stuck, upload the thing you’re working on (an image, a doc, whatever) and say:“Here’s what I’ve got. What would you improve?

Take away

You don’t need to become an AI expert. You just need a few tricks up your sleeve.

• Give good examples
• Break big asks into steps
• Show it your stuff (not just tell it)

Mastering ChatGPT isn’t about being technical. It’s about being clear, curious, and in control. And as a business owner, that’s already your superpower.