“AI won’t take your job. Someone better than you at using AI will take your job.” Richard Leblanc
I saw this on LinkedIn this week and it resonated with my mission for this newsletter. You’ll notice I usually cut straight to the chase with each week’s newsletter. No small talk, no fluff, and an obsessive desire on my part to ensure I don’t waste your time. However, I’m making an exception this week to ask one small favour:
Could you share this Influence with AI in your network?
My mission is to help public affairs practitioners master AI and I can only do that if you share Influence with AI with your colleagues.
Let's dive right into this week's topic!
I'm continuing my exploration of using ChatGPT as an interactive tool rather than just a content generator. I find it increasingly useful to aid my thought process, helping me to brainstorm, refine ideas, and review my thinking. Particularly, it's been beneficial in overcoming procrastination and dividing an opaque goal into manageable tasks.
For this week's example, let's consider creating brand messaging for an advocacy campaign. While we've all done this before, it's not a frequent task. Hence, when it's time to craft new messaging, we often resort to previous samples. This approach, however, can lead to similar messaging and more time spent on reaching the final product than on critical thinking. That's where ChatGPT proves to be useful.
So, this week, we will divide the complex task of writing brand messaging into six steps, featuring 27 prompts. I'm thrilled to share this comprehensive guide with you. Due to its dense nature, I haven't included screenshots of every prompt and response. Instead, you'll see how I've applied these prompts in a hypothetical scenario, where I aim to run an advocacy campaign against the carbon tax. Paid subscribers will have access to the full archive of my chat with ChatGPT at the end of this guide.
Step 1: Define Your Advocacy Goals and Brand Voice
Identify Objectives: Clearly articulate the goals of your advocacy campaign. What are you trying to achieve? Who are you trying to influence or persuade?
Establish Brand Voice: Determine how you want your organization to be perceived. What tone and style should your messages convey? Is your brand voice formal, approachable, activist, professional, etc.?
Prompt 1: Articulating Advocacy Goals
I need to define clear goals for our advocacy campaign regarding [issue/topic]. What are some effective strategies for setting these goals, and how can I ensure they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART)?Prompt 2: Exploring Goals Further
We aim to influence policy on [specific issue], engage the community, and raise awareness. Can you help me break these broad goals down into more specific objectives that would guide our public messaging efforts?Prompt 3: Establishing Brand Voice
Our organization stands for [values and principles]. Based on this, what brand voice should we adopt for our communications? We want to come across as [desired traits, e.g., authoritative, compassionate, innovative]. How can we reflect this in our messaging?Prompt 4: Consistency in Brand Voice
Given our existing communications, how can we ensure consistency in our brand voice across all platforms while addressing the issue of [topic]? Could you provide examples of how to maintain this consistency in different types of messages?Prompt 5: Aligning Voice and Goals
How can we align our brand voice with our advocacy goals effectively? Our main goal is [insert goal], and we want our voice to enhance this message, not distract from it. What are some key considerations?Step 2: Initial Message Brainstorming
Prompt for Ideas: Use ChatGPT to generate initial messaging ideas. Provide it with your advocacy goals and ask for message suggestions that align with these objectives.
Explore Different Angles: Ask ChatGPT to provide different perspectives or angles from which you could approach the issue. This could include emotional appeals, logical arguments, ethical considerations, etc.
Prompt 6: Generating Key Themes
Based on our advocacy goals related to [issue/topic], can you help generate a list of key themes that would resonate with our audience? We're looking for themes that not only address the issue but also engage our stakeholders effectively.Prompt 7: Brainstorming Message Ideas
For the key theme of [choose one from previous themes], could you brainstorm different message ideas that could effectively communicate our stance and engage our target audience? We want messages that are both thought-provoking and action-oriented.Prompt 8: Emotional and Logical Appeals
We want to strike a balance between emotional and logical appeals in our messages. For our campaign on [specific issue], what are some examples of messages that effectively combine these elements? This dual approach should help in broadening the appeal to various audience segments.Prompt 9: Addressing Potential Objections
As we develop messages for [topic], we must anticipate and address potential objections from critics or skeptics. Can you suggest message strategies that preemptively tackle these objections while promoting our advocacy points?Prompt 10: Innovative Message Formats
We are looking to innovate how we present our campaign messages. What are some creative formats or structures for our messages that could make them stand out and capture attention? Think beyond traditional formats to include things like storytelling, analogies, or interactive elements.Step 3: Refine and Edit Messages
Draft Messages: From the ideas generated, choose several that resonate most and draft them into more structured messages.
Prompt 11: Initial Review for Clarity and Impact
I have drafted several messages for our campaign on [topic]. Can you review these and suggest improvements for clarity and impact? Here are the messages: [list your messages].Prompt 12: Enhancing Persuasiveness
Here's a specific message I've crafted: [insert message]. Can you help me enhance its persuasiveness? I'm looking for suggestions on language, tone, and elements that could strengthen the argument or emotional appeal.Prompt 13: Consistency Check with Brand Voice
To maintain a cohesive brand voice across all our communications, I need to ensure that these specific messages align with our established voice, which is [describe brand voice]. Here are the messages: [list messages]. How well do they fit with our brand voice, and what adjustments would you recommend?Prompt 14: Simplifying Complex Information
Some of our messages involve complex policy details or statistics that might overwhelm the average reader. Here’s one such message: [provide complex message]. How can we simplify this message without losing the essential information?Prompt 15: Final Edits Before Approval
As we prepare to finalize our messages for the campaign, I'd like to have one last round of edits to ensure they're ready for deployment. Please provide detailed feedback on these final drafts: [list messages].Step 4: Ensure Consistency Across Messages
Check for Consistency: Ensure that all messages are consistent with each other and with your overall brand voice and advocacy goals.
Prompt 16: Review for Thematic Consistency
We have a range of messages prepared for our campaign concerning [topic/issue]. Could you help review these to ensure they all support the central theme of our campaign? Here are the messages: [list messages]. Please check for any deviations or mixed messages.Prompt 17: Cross-Message Tone Alignment
To maintain a consistent tone across all communications, I need to check that our messages do not conflict in their emotional or rhetorical approaches. Here are some of the key messages: [list messages]. Can you analyze and suggest any tone adjustments to align them more closely?Prompt 18: Final Consistency Check Before Campaign Launch
As we approach the launch of our campaign, I want to ensure all messages are not only consistent with each other but also aligned with our campaign objectives and brand values. Here are all the key messages: [list messages]. Please perform a final consistency check and suggest any last-minute tweaks.Step 5: Final Review and Strategy Integration
Gather All Messages: Compile all refined messages and review them as a whole to ensure they form a coherent messaging strategy.
Prompt 19: Comprehensive Campaign Review
Before we launch our advocacy campaign, I need a comprehensive review of all campaign elements—messages, target audiences, deployment strategies, and alignment with overall goals. Here are the details: [provide brief descriptions of each element]. Can you help ensure that everything is cohesively integrated and suggest any adjustments?Prompt 20: Effectiveness Check for Different Audiences
We've tailored our messages to different audience segments, such as [list segments]. Please review these tailored messages to ensure they are likely to be effective for each specific audience. Here are the messages: [list messages]. Are there any mismatches or opportunities for optimization?Prompt 21: Last-Minute Refinements and Suggestions
As we make final preparations, I would appreciate your insights on any last-minute refinements we can make to enhance the clarity, impact, and persuasiveness of our messages. Here are the finalized messages: [list messages]. Do you have any suggestions for tweaks or enhancements?Prompt 22: Strategy and Message Deployment Review
Finally, I need to review our deployment strategy for the messages. We plan to use platforms like [list platforms, e.g., social media, press releases, public forums]. Given the nature of our messages and our target audiences, does this strategy maximize our reach and impact? Are there other methods or platforms we should consider?Step 6: Prepare Deployment Plan
Plan Deployment: Decide how and where these messages will be used (e.g., social media, press releases, speeches).
Prompt 23: Defining Deployment Channels
We need to define the most effective channels for deploying our campaign messages. Considering our target audiences, which include [list target audiences], what are the best platforms and media channels for each group? Please provide suggestions based on the nature of the message and the habits of these audiences.Prompt 24: Timing and Scheduling
Timing can be crucial in a campaign. Can you help me create a deployment schedule that considers optimal times for message release? We aim to maximize engagement and impact on platforms such as [list platforms].Prompt 25: Cross-Platform Consistency
As we plan to use multiple platforms like [list platforms], how can we ensure consistency in our messaging across these different channels? Please suggest strategies or tools that could help manage and synchronize our content.Prompt 26: Budget Allocation for Campaign Deployment
Given our budget constraints, how should we allocate resources across various deployment channels to ensure the best return on investment? Our main channels are [list channels], and we need to prioritize our spending effectively.Prompt 27: Contingency Planning for Response Management
In case of unexpected responses or backlash to our messages, we need a contingency plan. Can you suggest approaches for monitoring feedback and responding swiftly and effectively? What mechanisms should we put in place to adjust our campaign in real-time if needed?You can see how I put these prompts to use here: