Patience: The Secret Sauce for Generative AI

I've always struggled with patience.

I like to get most things done fast. Except of course when I procrastinate from writing 😀.

But lately, I've realized patience is one of the key ingredients to generative AI.

More on that below.

First, I want to tell you about a subtle change to this newsletter and my LinkedIn Learning series course.

The new title is: AI and Digital Marketing Trends ... because, well, because AI is now embedded in pretty much everything marketers and communicators do.

And now, a word from this issue's sponsor.

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Adjusting Your AI Speed

There are some tasks where you want your AI tools to be fast.

Like a quick design, multiple takes on a theme, customized versions of ads, or simply an answer to your question.

That's why for many people, speed is the default expectation for generative AI.

Type in a quick prompt and out pops a dozen visuals, variations of an email subject line or maybe a summary or chart.

Yet, there are other cases where you need your AI to slow down. When you're writing a thought-leadership piece or strategic marketing plan, for example. Or conducting research.

You need additional time to think about what you want your AI to do, and to craft a more detailed prompt.

And a thorough, well structured prompt take patience, energy and a lot of back and forth with the machine.

5 Ways to AI Zen

Adopting a more mindful approach to AI isn't difficult. And don't worry, it doesn't involve deep breathing.

But it does require a reflective and well reasoned approach. Plus goal setting, planning and clarity.

Say you get the ball rolling with a simple back and forth chat with an AI. Think of this stage like a performer warming up their audience.

As the conversation progresses, you switch from generalities to being hyper-specific in your explanation of what you want the LLM to produce. That way, it gets a handle on which types of data it should draw on.

Now, you really have to slow down.

Here are 5 ways to apply the brakes to your process:

1. Be an expert. It's one thing to use AI as a quasi-search engine and get a quick answer. But to create a novel piece of content, you need subject matter expertise. So you can assess whether the chatbot's output is any good or not.
2. Come up with at least one idea (and maybe more). That includes for headlines, your opening paragraph or hook, images, you name it. Don't simply rely on the machine to do the heavy lifting.
3. Prepare your first draft the old fashioned way. This part is all on you. And while it doesn't have to be polished, it should have enough of your personality and perspective to set the tone for what's to come.
4. Structure your request. There are many ways to do this, like turning to Dave Birss 's 'Create' prompting framework. Get specific about the role or character you want your AI to be, talk about your audience, what makes you different, share examples, be absolutely clear with your instructions and the type of output you're hoping for. Remember, AI processes text, not subtext.
5. Your prompt is just the beginning. Engage your chatbot in a back and forth discussion. Consider yourself a knowledgeable podcast host and treat the AI as your guest. You've got to bring out the best in them!

If you learn when to be fast and when to slow down your approach to generative AI, you'll start seeing better results. This applies whether you're using it for text, visuals, video or research.

Shifting to Research Mode

Deep research, where an AI system gathers sources, analyses them and prepares a report, is the topic for this week's AI and Digital Marketing Trends video.

I talk about how to get the most out of these semi-autonomous research tools from OpenAI, Google, Perplexity, Microsoft and others.

Taking time to be specific and deliberate in your request is a good place to start. You'll also need patience when you review your output and carefully fact-check the AI to ensure its sources, charts and analysis are accurate.

For more tips, watch the video below ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️.

New Exec Ed Course: Applied Generative AI

Deep research is also one of the subjects I'll be digging into in a new two-day exec education course I'll be teaching in August: Applied Generative AI for Creativity: Writing, Research, and Multimedia Storytelling.

The two-day virtual workshop is being offered by my alma mater, the McMaster University Master of Communications Management , and it's open for registration now.

In Day 1, we'll discuss how to prompt and research more effectively by combining patience, subject matter expertise and structure.

In Day 2, we'll demo and test out various multimodal tools and think about the positive and negative implications of AI and marketing and comms.

Interested? Here's a link to the Applied AI sign up page to register or find out more.

Follow Me on LinkedIn

I can see by the clock on the wall that it's time to bring issue #126 to a close.

Thank you to all of you who follow me and subscribe, read, comment and share this newsletter!

This newsletter comes out twice a month. But between issues, I share shorter daily posts with my take on digital marketing and the latest on generative AI. It's another way to stay on top of the trends.

And while you're at it, follow the Future of Marketing Institute, too.

Let me know if you have questions about any of the videos in Digital Marketing Trends or any of my other LinkedIn Learning courses.

You can also visit my website and send a message or a question.

Do you expect your interactions with AI to be quick or are you prepared to take additional time when you're looking for a more nuanced result? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

See you in two weeks! I hope you don't mind the wait ...

Note: All the content in this post was written by a human—me and not Martin-bot.