TL;DR: A marketing expert’s specific prompt formula designed to reduce editing time by enforcing storytelling, promotional limits, and engagement hooks.
Most of us have generated a blog post that felt stiff, robotic, or overly salesy. It happens to everyone. I recently found a discussion by u/withvicky_ that breaks down the exact prompt strategy used by Neil Patel. The original poster explained that this approach came after a year of testing to find a workflow that actually reduces the amount of heavy editing required by human writers.
The Prompt
Here is the exact text shared in the post. You will need to fill in the bracketed sections:
I want to write an article about [insert topic] that includes stats and cite your sources. And use storytelling in the introductory paragraph.
The article should be tailored to [insert your ideal customer].
The article should focus on [what you want to talk about] instead of [what you don’t want to talk about].
Please mention [insert your company or product name] in the article and how we can help [insert your ideal customer] with [insert the problem your product or service solves]. But please don’t mention [insert your company or product name] more than twice.
And wrap up the article with a conclusion and end the last sentence in the article with a question.
Why It Works
This prompt succeeds because it moves beyond a simple instruction like “write a blog post.” It uses several distinct engineering techniques:
- Narrative Hook: By explicitly requesting “storytelling in the introductory paragraph,” it bypasses the standard, dry AI introduction.
- Negative Constraints: It tells the AI what to focus on instead of what to avoid. This keeps the content on track and prevents the model from wandering into generic territory.
- Promotional Limits: The constraint to mention the company “no more than twice” is brilliant. It ensures the article provides value first and sells second, which increases trust.
- Engagement Loop: Forcing the article to end with a question is a classic community-building tactic to drive comments.
Variations and Improvements
While this is a solid base, a few community members noted potential issues with AI hallucinating sources. Here are two ways to strengthen this prompt:
- Source Verification: Instead of asking the AI to “cite your sources” (which it might fake), provide the data yourself. Add: “Use the following statistics: [Paste specific stats/links].”
- Web Search Integration: If you are using a web-enabled model (like GPT-4o or Perplexity), modify the first line to: “Search the web for recent statistics from 2024 to support this article and cite the URLs.”
Use Cases
- Company Blogs: Perfect for “How-to” guides where you want to subtly introduce your product as the solution.
- LinkedIn Articles: The storytelling intro and ending question are tailored for social engagement.
- Newsletters: Keeps the promotional aspect low, which reduces unsubscribe rates.
This is a great example of how simple constraints can drastically change output quality. If you want to see what others are saying about the hallucination risks or alternative structures, check out the full discussion on Reddit!
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can I trust the “cite your sources” instruction?
Be careful—AI is notorious for hallucinating fake links and even court cases! Community members strongly advise verifying every single citation to ensure it exists and actually supports the topic. To improve accuracy, try modifying the prompt to ask for “3 recent sources via web search” rather than just asking for citations generally.
Q: Will this prompt create publish-ready articles?
Likely not immediately. While some users appreciate the structure, others warn that using this without heavy editing results in generic content that can hurt your SEO and reader engagement. The consensus is that you must add your own original insights and human feedback to make the content truly worth reading.
Q: How can I make this prompt stronger?
One user suggested a “tighter version” that defines word count, specific timeframes for sources (e.g., “last 5 years”), and brand voice traits. Adding a “Priority” section—telling the AI to value accuracy over persuasion—can also help prevent it from making things up just to sound convincing.
Prompt used by Neil patel for writing an article
by u/withvicky_ in PromptEngineering