Open the last Facebook post your AI wrote for you. Count how many times it says “Are you looking for…”, “Look no further”, or throws in three emojis and a wall of hashtags. If you hit two or more, your copy is wearing a robot costume. Let’s fix that in about five minutes, and no, you don’t need a marketing degree or a fancy tool to do it.
A Redditor on r/ChatGPTPromptGenius shared a simple structure that stopped their marketing copy from sounding like AI. It works because most prompts leave the model guessing. Give it four things and the guessing stops. Think of it like handing a new employee a job description, a customer file, and a list of dos and don’ts, instead of just saying “go write something.”
🧪 Step 1: Fill In the Four Slots
Before you write a single prompt, answer these. Grab a notepad or open a blank note, because this takes two minutes and you’ll reuse it for months.
- Role: Who is actually writing? The owner of a bakery in your city is a different voice than “a marketing expert.” Add a detail or two about how this person talks, like “friendly, a little sarcastic, never uses big words.”
- Facts: Real details only your business knows. The oven that runs hot on Tuesdays. The regular who orders the same thing every morning. Write down three facts minimum: one about your product, one about a customer, one about your place or process.
- Audience: One specific person, not “customers.” Think “busy parents who need a quick lunch.” The narrower the picture, the more natural the language gets, because the model stops writing for everyone and starts writing for someone.
- Constraints: What the AI must NOT do. This is the secret weapon. List banned phrases, a word limit, and an emoji cap. Five bullet points is plenty.
🛠️ Step 2: Copy One of These Three Prompts
Google review reply
“Act as the owner of [BUSINESS TYPE] in [CITY]. Reply to this review: [PASTE REVIEW]. Thank the customer by first name, mention one specific detail from their review, keep it under 60 words. No generic phrases like ‘We appreciate your feedback.’ If the review is negative, acknowledge the problem without excuses and offer a direct contact.”
Social media post
“Write a Facebook post for [BUSINESS] about [OFFER/NEWS]. Audience: [ONE SPECIFIC CUSTOMER, e.g. ‘busy parents who need a quick lunch’]. Start with a situation they recognize, not a question. Max 80 words, max 1 emoji, no hashtags in the text, end with one clear action.”
Website “About us”
“Interview me with 8 questions to write an About page for my [BUSINESS TYPE]. Ask one question at a time. After my answers, write the page in first person, plain language, max 200 words. Avoid: ‘passionate’, ‘dedicated’, ‘one-stop shop’, ‘look no further’.”
Swap the brackets for your own details and run it. Here’s a quick example of what the Facts slot looks like filled in for a coffee shop: “We roast beans on Thursdays, the espresso machine hisses like a cat when it warms up, and a retired mail carrier named Dave has ordered the same cortado every day for six years.” That is the kind of detail no AI can invent, and it is exactly what makes a post feel like it came from a real place. Run the prompt, then compare it to the version you got before. Read both out loud. The difference usually shows up in the first sentence.
🔍 What Your Results Mean
- Still sounds generic? Your Facts slot is too thin. The model can’t invent your story, so it fills the gaps with filler. Go back and add two more specific details, ideally with a name, a number, or a time of day.
- Sounds human but off-brand? Tighten the Role. Add a line about how you actually talk. Paste in two sentences from a real email or text you wrote and tell the model to match that rhythm.
- Good, but one phrase keeps sneaking in? Add it to the Constraints list by name. Models respond well to a specific ban.
- Sounds great? Save the prompt. You just built a reusable template. Keep it in a doc called “Prompts That Work” so you never start from scratch again.
💡 Extra Tips
- Use the interview trick everywhere. The About page prompt asks you questions first, and that is the best part. When the AI collects your real answers before writing, it gets the specific details that make copy sound like a person. It works for product descriptions, email intros, and bios too.
- Ban words, not vibes. “Don’t sound corporate” is vague. “Avoid ‘passionate’, ‘dedicated’, and ‘one-stop shop'” is something the model can follow.
- Set hard limits. Word counts and emoji caps force tighter writing and cut the fluff. If the first draft is still too long, reply with “Cut this by 30% without losing the specific details.”
- Open with a situation. “It’s 12:15 and you have 20 minutes to eat” beats “Are you hungry?” every time.
- Keep a ban list. Every time you spot a new robotic phrase in an AI draft, add it to a running list and paste that list into every future prompt. After a month, your list becomes a filter that catches the junk before you ever see it.
- Edit the last 10%. One commenter on the thread joked that the post itself sounded like AI. Fair. Whatever the model gives you, read it out loud and fix anything you wouldn’t say to a friend.
🏴☠️ Your Mission, Captain
Pick one prompt, fill in your real details, and run it today. Then tell me: what’s your go-to constraint for killing generic AI phrases? Drop it in the comments, because the best bans are the ones we steal from each other!
The 4-part prompt structure that stopped my AI marketing copy from sounding like AI (3 examples for local businesses)
by u/esenerly in ChatGPTPromptGenius