Rob Allen – How to Become an AI Prompt Engineer

Hey copywriter friend,

If you’re not already, you might want to grab a seat.

Because I’m writing you with some very sobering news…

AI is coming to replace you.

Well…

“Coming” probably isn’t the best word to describe exactly what’s happening…

Because it is replacing writers, like you. Right now.

I first heard ripples of this news when a very talented copywriter I’ve worked with before was let go by one of his long-standing clients.

Now if you’ve worked with clients before, you know this is nothing new. Copywriters lose and change clients all the time.

But it was the reason he was let go that made this story unlike any I’d heard before..

The client planned to replace him with…

You guessed it, AI…

🤯

Which was crazy to hear by itself.

But then, a few days later, I got wind that an owner of a fleet of 7-figure ecommerce stores was letting go all but 1 of his 6 copywriters on staff…

(And the one copywriter left got a shiny, new addition to their job role:

To wield the AI.)

🤯 🤯

Of course, these were just anecdotes.

You know… The kind of stories that instantly spread in the copywriting community and don’t always represent what’s happening in the world at large.

But gradually, the echos reached further into mainstream media outlets breaking stories about writers being replaced by AI on even bigger stages.

For example, Buzzfeed.

They recently announced a plan to go full steam ahead on using ChatGPT to create content over writers … while quietly laying off 12% of their staff (180 people).

And the part that makes this extra alarming to me is that investors loved this news!

Buzzfeed’s stock jumped 92% the day they announced a plan to use more AI.

Now if you’re thinking: “Rob, why are you being a finance nerd and talking about stock gains to copywriters???”

I get it.

At first, I didn’t think it had much to do with copywriting either.

But as I looked closer, I realized it actually has everything to do with it.

Because investors always put pressure on management teams to cut costs, eliminate extra headcount and hand shareholders even better returns.

And if you can let go of 12% … 20% … or even 80% of your writing team (as many are doing) with no drop in work quality…

…What do you think is going to happen next?

And none of that even hits on the most disturbing truth yet:

All these changes are happening with the current version of ChatGPT — made available to the public just 4 months ago.

The next iteration — ChatGPT 4.0 which just came out— is poised to be at least 500 times more advanced. Leaving some experts frightened not just about what 4.0 will be capable of, but what about 40.0?

Now, I’ll be honest with you.

Back in December, when I first saw some of the emails, sales copy and much of what the AI was producing, I scoffed. “THIS IS WHAT YOU THINK COPY IS?”

Because all I saw was cheesy openings like “Dear reader, are you tired of…”

Or stale, trite copy like “introducing the most cutting edge” …

But that changed rapidly.

And funny enough…

It was all thanks to a random run-in with Samuel L. Jackson.

Yep, the good ol’ Snakes on A Plane hero changed my opinion on AI forever…

“My Motherf*cking AI Breakthrough”

One day, as I was scrolling through twitter, I saw someone post a radically different way to use the AI than I’d seen before…

As opposed to the typical SEO blog posts and generic sales emails I’d grown accustomed to seeing, this person had gone completely “off book.”

Instead of giving the AI a short command to do [x], this person told it to write a complex sketch comedy scene involving their favorite actor … Samuel L. Jackson.

When I started reading it, my jaw hit the floor.

Not only was the result absolutely hilarious to read (Dm me and I’ll send it to you).

But it was creative, fresh and fun.

Compared to the stale, flat, templated stuff I saw others touting as “game-changing”…

This copy was dynamic. Fluid. Alive even.

And as I looked for what made this copy so refreshing and different, I realized it boiled down to just two words.

Prompt engineering.

Turns out, if you change the input, you can dramatically change the output of these tools.

You can take the outputs from something veteran copywriters would scoff at …

… to something that would be “good enough” to run (with no or minimal edits) in 99% of businesses right now.

And even wilder…

You can produce this copy in seconds — for what might take a beginner or intermediate writer hours … or even days.

So I dug in even deeper. Spent days tinkering with the interface.

And gradually, I realized that I was only just beginning to scratch the surface of what it could do.

Want to get deep inside the mind of your target market?

ChatGPT can quickly paint a picture of what it feels like to be your ideal customer.

Need help handling objections (or knowing what potential objections people might have before buying)?

Instead of spending HOURS lurking on forums or digging through dozens of Amazon reviews, ChatGPT can create a list of common objections for you.

Want to write an emotionally gripping lead for a VSL?

What about launch emails? Post purchase emails? Cart abandon emails? And more.

Yes, it can do that too.

Truthfully, there’s no writing task I’ve thrown that it hasn’t been able to handle … when you engineer the prompts the right way…

Most people just don’t know how to do it yet.

The good news is…

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been experimenting with all kinds of prompting tricks… All kinds of ways to interact with the AI interface…

Some of the more basic discoveries I’ve published for free (and they still blew people’s minds)…

But many, I’ve held closely to my chest (and out of the hands of business owners and marketing executives who want to use them to create AI content instead of work with copywriters)…

And truth be told, I think this could be one of the biggest advantages modern day copywriters have left…

It’s a chance to grow beyond purely a “copywriter”

And rise into the new, emerging role of an …

AI Prompt Engineer

This is a completely new type of marketer we’re witnessing be created right now in 2023.

These individuals combine a deep understanding of consumer psychology, sales funnels and copywriting with the rapid research and output power of a machine … to run laps around people just doing everything by hand.

They can do tasks that’d take an “average copywriter” a week — before lunch on Monday morning.

Imagine…

• Deep, complex research done in seconds not days.
• Gripping leads written in minutes not months.
• Sales funnels shipped before others can finish a keystroke.

These are huge advantages that Prompt Engineers have over ordinary copywriters right now.

And it’s these individuals who will have the best chance of being safe from getting replaced by AI in the future.

Because right now, AI copy and ChatGPT are just tools.

Powerful ones at that.

But tools nonetheless.

And like any tool, they’re only as good as you know how to use it.

And we’re seeing a lot of people trying to do the equivalent of “hammer” screws or “glue down” nails.

A true Prompt Engineer knows better.

They can wield the tools — modify the inputs — to any scenario to get the exact kind of copy they want back … all at a speed that almost feels too fast (it actually takes your brain some time to adjust to this new speed of work).

Which is why I’ve rushed forward the development of a brand-spankin’ new digital book on how to command this tool and use it to your advantage…

So that you aren’t completely erased as AI continues to grow stronger each day….

It’s called …

How To Become An AI Prompt Engineer

In this immediately useful, 130+page crash-course, I’m going to show you how to get in on the ground floor of this newly emerging role of an AI Prompt Engineer.

I’m giving you exact, real-world use cases for the most powerful prompts I’ve discovered for conducting research … writing enviably good post-purchase emails … crafting launch emails so good I don’t think even a world-class copywriter could beat them.

And so much more…

If you’re an ecommerce copywriter, this is an absolute must-read book.

Because inside, I show you how to use ChatGPT to write basically every email you’ll ever send to ecom brand’s list — in seconds not days. And the results are better than 95% of the copy I’ve seen from ecom emails.

And if you’re a copywriter trying to scale a one-person agency to the moon, this is the “hack” you’ve been waiting for to free up hours of your time with no drop in the quality of copy you’re turning into clients.

And speaking of clients…

If you’re someone who struggles to nail your clients’ voice, I’ll show you a quick trick to instantly nail their style (this works like crazy if you ever need to send a client a sample).

Plus, you’ll see a prompting secret I learned to make every piece of AI content you write sound like a bonafide human wrote it (I checked the AI detection checkers and this very simple prompt got it down 0% AI and 100% human).

• New product launches
• “Last chance” emails
• Cart abandon emails
• Cross sell emails
• Post-purchase “thank yous”
• Welcome new subscribers to your list
• VSL leads
• Customer research

You’ll see exactly how to use AI to help you create for all these kinds of scenarios and more.

Plus, the 9 best follow-up prompts you can use to unlock even more power as an “AI” editor.

But most importantly of all, I’m going to show you how to create your own prompts for any scenario you can imagine.

And maybe even some you can’t even think of yet.

This is book perfect for you if:

• You’re worried about ChatGPT and the rise of AI. I’ll show you how to put those fears to bed like they’ve downed a bottle of melatonin … out like a light!
• You’re a newer copywriter and want an extreme advantage for getting your work done faster … while still growing your skills without fear of your career collapsing on you.
• You’re an established copywriter without a ton of time who would LOVE to add more income to your plate but simply don’t have the bandwidth for more gigs. You’ll see how to exponentially increase your output with zero drop in quality.
• You’re someone who’s working to grow their own personal brand or launch new products in the future. I’ll show you how this can help you execute on your content creation and ship more work consistently faster.
• You’re an agency owner curious about how you could train your team to use AI to work even faster (and maybe grow a little leaner).
• You’re short on time but want to stay on the cutting edge of this developing technology and see how real copywriters are currently using this to earn thousands of dollars every month.