The six-part prompt: role, context, task, constraints, examples, format

0:00 The six-part prompt

Imagine handing a freelance copywriter a sticky note that says: write a caption for my bakery. You'd get something generic, and you wouldn't blame the freelancer. You'd blame the brief. AI works exactly the same way. The single biggest shift in prompting is to stop thinking of a prompt as a question and start thinking of it as a creative brief. In this lecture you'll learn a six part structure that fixes most weak prompts, see it applied to a Lahore bakery and a B2B software launch, and watch me rebuild a weak prompt live. You'll also learn where to store the parts so you don't retype them every day.

0:48 Why structure beats cleverness

Why a structure instead of clever tricks? Because most weak output isn't caused by the wrong magic words. It's caused by missing information: who the audience is, what the offer is, what the brand sounds like, what to avoid. A structure makes those gaps visible before you hit enter. You won't always need all six parts. A quick brainstorm might need two. But checking your prompt against the six parts takes ten seconds, and it catches the omission that would otherwise cost you twenty minutes of editing.

1:26 Parts 1 to 3

Let's walk through them. Part one, role. Tell the model what expertise to bring: you're a senior direct response copywriter who specializes in Instagram ads for food brands in the Gulf. A role nudges vocabulary and standards, but world's greatest genius adds nothing. Part two, context, where most prompts fail. Who you are, your product and price point. Your audience: what they want, what they worry about, the words they use. The situation: goal, platform, season, what's worked before. And facts the model must use, like approved claims, prices and dates. Part three, task. One clear verb and deliverable. Write five caption options. If you have several tasks, number them or split them into separate prompts.

2:16 Parts 4 to 6

Part four, constraints. Length, tone, reading level, language variety, words to avoid, and compliance rules. Under sixty words. No health claims. Don't use elevate or unlock. Include hashtag ad because this is a paid partnership. Part five, examples. One or two examples of captions you love teach tone faster than any adjective. The next lesson goes deep on this. And part six, output format. Say exactly how you want the answer: a numbered list, a table with columns, a script with timestamps, or hook on line one, body, then call to action. The right format saves editing time and makes options easy to compare.

3:01 The freelancer analogy

Here's the quick test I use. Before you hit enter, imagine forwarding the prompt to a talented freelancer who has never heard of your brand. Would they understand exactly what you want? Did you give them facts they can't possibly guess, like your price, your offer end date, or your audience's favorite phrase? Did you tell them what to avoid? Did you say what shape the deliverable should take? If the freelancer would email you three questions before starting, the AI will guess the answers to those three questions instead. And its guesses will be average.

3:43 Example 1: the Eid cake caption

Let's see it in action. Weak prompt: write a caption for my bakery's new cake. Now the strong version. Role: social media copywriter for independent food brands in Pakistan. Context: we're Crumb and Co, a home bakery in Lahore selling custom cakes, audience is women planning birthdays who order on WhatsApp, tone is warm, playful and a bit cheeky, launching a pistachio rose cake for Eid. Task: five Instagram caption options for the launch Reel. Constraints: under sixty words, first line works alone, light Roman Urdu, no best in Lahore claims, end with a WhatsApp call to action. Example of our voice: birthday on Saturday and zero plan? Relax, jaan, we've got the cake. Format: numbered, with a note on the angle. Two extra minutes to write. Twenty minutes of editing saved.

4:40 Example 2: the B2B feature launch

Now a B2B example, with illustrative details. A content marketer at an HR software company in London needs a LinkedIn post about a new absence tracking feature. Her old prompt: write a LinkedIn post about our new HR software feature. Her six part version: role, B2B content writer for HR leaders. Context: the feature, the audience's pain in their own words, spreadsheets that are always out of date, and one approved customer result, written as a proof placeholder she fills from the case study. Constraints: under one hundred and eighty words, first line under twelve words, no revolutionary. One example post that performed well. Format: hook, three short paragraphs, a question to prompt comments. Her editing rounds drop from about four to one.

5:33 Watch me do it

Let me rebuild a weak prompt using the checker from the lesson text. Here's the original: write an email to promote our summer camp. I paste it into the checker and ask it to rate each of the six parts and suggest one improvement for each, then rewrite it with placeholders for facts only I can supply, without inventing anything. The table says role is missing, context is missing, task is present but vague, constraints missing, examples missing, format missing. That's harsh, but fair. The rewrite has a role, the audience as parents of eight to twelve year olds, placeholders for dates, price, location and one real parent quote, a two hundred word limit, a subject line and preview text format, and a rule against inventing testimonials. I fill in the placeholders, and I have a prompt I can reuse every summer.

6:35 Store the stable parts

Here's how professionals avoid typing all six parts every day. Split them into stable and per task. The role, the brand context, the brand rules and your best examples rarely change, so store them once: in project instructions and files in ChatGPT or Claude, in a custom GPT, or in a Gemini Gem. The task, the task specific context and the format change every time, so they go in the prompt. With a well built project, your everyday prompt might be three lines, and the output still reflects all six parts. We'll build exactly that kind of context pack later in this course.

7:20 Common mistakes

Three common mistakes. Over stuffing: a two page prompt full of irrelevant history dilutes the key instructions. Keep context relevant, and put the most important rules near the task. Conflicting instructions: be concise and include every detail pull in opposite directions, so outputs flip between them. Decide which wins. And relying on role alone: you're an expert marketer, with no context, still produces generic work. The role sets standards. The context supplies the substance.

7:52 Recap and try this now

Let's recap. A prompt is a brief with six parts: role, context, task, constraints, examples and output format. Context is the part most often missing, so give the facts the model can't guess. Use the freelancer test before you hit enter. And store the stable parts in a project, GPT or Gem so everyday prompts stay short. Here's your try this now. Take the last content or sales prompt you used, run it through the six part checker in the lesson text, fill in the placeholders, and compare the new output with the old one. Save the improved version. It's the first entry in your prompt library.