If Episode 42 made the case for why prompting is the real skill behind better AI results, this episode is where we get into the practical detail.

Sooz Young walks through the four most common prompting mistakes she sees repeatedly in training sessions, workshops, and client work — and shares four specific frameworks from the Practical AI Prompting Fundamentals Course that you can start applying straight away.

These methods work across every AI platform — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot — because the underlying skill is the same regardless of where you're prompting.

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THE 4 MOST COMMON PROMPTING MISTAKES

1. Being too vague — asking for a blog post or some ideas with no context, audience, goal or format. The AI fills the gaps with generic information and the output reflects that.

2. Expecting AI to know your business automatically — unless you provide the context, the system has no idea who you are, who you serve, or how you communicate. This is especially common with free tools that don't retain memory between sessions.

3. Stopping after the first answer — the first response is a starting point, not the final output. The most effective users refine, iterate, and add more context. They treat AI as a collaborator, not a vending machine.

4. Searching for one magic prompt — clever formulas shared online create the impression that prompting is about memorising special phrases. In reality, effective prompting is clarity, context and iteration, built around reliable methods you can return to.

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THE 4 FRAMEWORKS COVERED IN THIS EPISODE

Act As Method

Give the AI a role before it starts the task. Instead of ”write a social media post about AI tools,” try ”act as a social media marketing strategist and write a carousel script for Instagram aimed at small business owners who feel overwhelmed by AI.” Role, task, audience, purpose — that's what changes the output.

Ask Questions Method

Instruct the AI to ask you questions before it does the work. Ask it five questions about your audience, your offer, and your call to action — then answer them. The output is built on your actual context, not its best guess. It mirrors how a good consultant works, and it reduces the back and forth significantly.

PTCF Framework

The four-part structure behind any strong prompt: Persona (who the AI should act as), Task (what you want it to do — use specific verbs), Context (who is this for, where will it be used, what's the goal), and Format (bullet points, word count, tone, table). Most weak prompts are missing at least one of these four things.

https://allmylink.me/aipromptingfundamentals

Paste in your existing content — blog posts, emails, transcripts — and ask the AI to review your tone of voice and writing style before it starts. The new output picks up your rhythm, vocabulary and structure, and feels like you rather than a generic draft. Combine this with setting up dedicated projects in your AI tool (one for the podcast, one for proposals, one for social media, etc.) so the context carries across every conversation.

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RESOURCES MENTIONED

🎓 Practical AI Prompting Fundamentals Course

👉 https://allmylink.me/aipromptingfundamentals

🔍 Digital Setup and Systems Health Check

👉 https://technologycoachingonline.com/digital-health-check

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🧠 TAKE THE FREE DIGITAL MINDSET QUIZ

👉 https://technologycoachingonline.com/quiz/

🎉 JOIN THE DIGITAL DOMINATORS COMMUNITY — FREE

👉 https://technologycoachingonline.com/digital-dominators/