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• The AI Prompt Recipe Book - Secret Sauce That Sticks
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• Alexis Gajewski's LinkedIn 

Seth Hastings: Welcome to Search and Sustain, a Marketing Edge podcast. As always, I’m your host, Seth Hastings, joined by the expert in AEO, SEO, and whatever acronym you want to use, Erin Hallstrom. 

Erin Hallstrom: That’s me. 

Seth Hastings: And today we have a special guest. We’re joined by our resident AI expert, Alexis Gajewski. Welcome. 

Alexis Gajewski: Hey, everybody! 

Seth Hastings: We have a treat for you today, but I’m going to stop talking because this is now the Erin Hallstrom Show. Erin, why don’t you tell everyone what we’ll be doing today? 

Erin Hallstrom: Thanks, Seth. I’ll try not to get drunk on all that power. 

One of the things we wanted to do today, and I’m excited because I’m surrounded by two geniuses, is talk about prompt writing. Alexis is exceptional at creating prompts that help marketers, writers, and content creators get exactly what they need out of their favorite large language model. Seth, you’re phenomenal at that as well. 

So I thought it would be fun to have a prompt-off. We talked about the secret sauce last month, so let’s keep the barbecue theme going. 

I created a challenge for Seth and Alexis. I’m going to play the role of someone who needs help writing an AI prompt. I’ll give them the same assignment, and they’ll explain what their prompt would contain. Then we’ll talk about it. 

Here’s the challenge: You’re a product marketer for a new line of BBQ grills. Your target audience is backyard barbecuers, not pit masters. You’ve been tasked with coming up with five new grill-related blog topics and 10 social media posts for a summer campaign. 

What prompt would you use to get direction from AI? 

As I say that out loud, I realize it sounds very AI-generated, but apparently I’ve started talking like AI. With that, that’s the prompt I gave both of you. 

Seth Hastings: You know what my only issue was with that, Erin? It wasn’t the prompt. It was the introduction where you said Alexis was the expert and then said, “Seth kind of knows some of this too.” 

That was my issue. 

But anyway, I’m ready to battle. Alexis, why don’t you go first? 

Alexis Gajewski: Perfect. Also, according to my mom, I am the best, so you don’t want to go against my mom. 

All right, here’s my prompt. As with all things I do, it’s probably overly detailed. You don’t necessarily need this level of detail, but this is the space I like to live in. 

I told you it was going to be long. 

Erin Hallstrom: For everyone listening, we’ll put the full text of this prompt on the Marketing Edge website. Even though it’s a fictional scenario, the prompt itself is worth reading. The link will be in the show notes. 

With that, Seth, what are your thoughts? 

Seth Hastings: It’s a different approach from what I would do, which is good because everyone’s approach should be different. 

As I was listening, I kept thinking, “I should have included that. I should have included that.” 

You definitely added a lot more detail than I did. I think there’s a point where there’s too much detail and a point where there’s not enough. Mine probably needs more in a few places, especially around tone of voice. You were very intentional there. 

You also gave AI very strict instructions for the social posts. Personally, I like giving AI a little more freedom to adapt to the platform and audience. 

For example, I don’t necessarily think it needs to be told exactly how many hashtags to use. That felt like the point where it became overly prescriptive. But I can see both sides of it because those details can be useful. 

Alexis Gajewski: I love a good debate. 

The two things I felt most strongly about were including some form of a brand identity document and requiring questions before output. 

A lot of marketers skip those pieces. 

The brand information is critical because it gives the AI context. And the questions at the end matter because we’re often so focused on getting a result that we forget about the information we haven’t considered yet. 

Now, like Seth said, the middle section can absolutely be simplified. Instead of specifying every social media requirement, you could say, “Follow Instagram best practices,” and most AI tools would understand that. 

But these are the kinds of prompts I personally write. I also wanted to account for situations where you’re using a platform that doesn’t know your brand well. In those cases, more detail can be helpful. 

Seth Hastings: And that’s probably why you’re the AI expert. 

One thing I should mention is that I’ve trained my AI to treat different social platforms differently. To me, that’s one of the most important parts of social media. 

You can’t use the exact same post everywhere. X operates differently than LinkedIn. Facebook is different from both. 

The subject matter can stay the same, but the way you communicate it should change. In my setup, AI already knows that, so I didn’t need to spell it out. 

Alexis Gajewski: Absolutely. It’s all about building a relationship with your AI over time. 

You can even start by asking AI what makes a great LinkedIn post or a great social post in general. Then you can decide which recommendations you agree with and make sure those are reflected in your prompt. 

Erin Hallstrom: Alexis, I’ve written on Marketing Edge that when it comes to AI, I’m more of a Blanche Devereaux or Samantha Jones. I use them all. I’m not loyal to a single platform. 

Because of that, I don’t always have a brand identity document. Sometimes I’m working across many brands. 

For someone listening who doesn’t have one, or maybe isn’t familiar with the idea, can you briefly explain what a brand identity document is and how necessary it really is? 

Alexis Gajewski: It depends on the prompt, but a brand identity document is essentially a shortcut that explains your brand to AI. 

It captures the information you already know instinctively: the company’s history, mission, audience, values, and overall positioning. 

Think about handing a project to another marketer. Without that background information, you’d get very different results. 

If you’re working closely with a brand over a long period and using AI regularly, I’d say it’s pretty important. It doesn’t need to be huge. Even a one-page document can be enough. 

If it’s a one-off project and you just need a few quick ideas, it’s probably not necessary. 

Erin Hallstrom: All right. I think it’s time to make room for my second-favorite AI prompt expert. 

Seth, please tell us what your prompt is. 

And just to be clear, all in good fun. Seth is obviously my favorite AI prompt person. Alexis is a distant second. 

Seth Hastings: I think Erin is drunk on power. 

But here’s my prompt: 

Alexis Gajewski: I love that. I really do. 

Listening to it, I kept thinking of things I should have included, like product links. 

It also reminds me how valuable a strong About Us page can be. If you have a stellar About Us page, you may not need a full brand identity document. 

I also love how aggressively you defined tone and voice up front. In my process, that usually happens later after I’ve seen the first round of ideas, but doing it immediately will probably improve the first output. 

There’s a lot here I really like. 

Seth Hastings: For our listeners, many of those strategies are actually discussed in the recipe book we’ve published and will share again. 

When I build prompts, I’m not expecting the first answer to be perfect. That’s not my goal. 

I want multiple options from different perspectives so I can evaluate them, mix and match ideas, and identify what’s best for the company. 

Erin Hallstrom: One thing that really stood out to me was your mention of Reddit. 

I don’t know how many marketers are doing that, but I think it’s incredibly valuable. 

Those communities reveal what actual backyard grillers are talking about, what problems they have, and what questions they’re asking. 

From an answer engine optimization perspective, you want to understand those questions and become the source that provides solutions. Whether you sell grills or software, you want to know what’s keeping your audience up at night and create content that helps solve those problems. 

So bravo. 

Seth Hastings: Thank you. 

As marketers, we spend a lot of time talking about our own tone of voice, but sometimes we forget about the audience’s tone of voice. 

Your communication should feel familiar to your audience. If it doesn’t sound like them, they’re less likely to connect with it. 

You can absolutely be professional, entertaining, or playful, but it still needs to feel natural to the people you’re trying to reach. 

That’s why I like the Reddit component. It helps capture authentic, unfiltered language. 

Alexis Gajewski: I agree. 

One of the biggest complaints people have about AI is that the output sounds the same as everyone else’s. This is a great way to avoid that. 

I’m usually cautious about turning AI loose on the internet, but Seth built good guardrails around what it should look for and why. 

There were some really strong ideas in there. 

Erin Hallstrom: There’s so much great information in this discussion. 

As the person who, technically, is supposed to decide a winner, I have to say this was an incredibly close call. 

I started out thinking Alexis had won, but after hearing the conversation and Seth’s points about matching the audience’s tone and using community insights, I’m going to give Seth the win. 

Seth, you are the winner of the prompt challenge. 

Seth Hastings: Thank you. Thank you. I graciously accept the Secret Sauce Award. 

But I think this exercise demonstrates something important. There’s never going to be a perfect prompt. 

There will always be something you could add, remove, or improve. 

That’s why prompt writing is rarely one-and-done. You establish a foundation and then build on it through conversation. 

I think Alexis and I both approached it that way. 

I learned a lot from this discussion, and I think we’ll all become better prompt writers because of it. 

With that said, Alexis, thank you for joining us and for battling it out. We hope to have you back on a future episode. 

Until then, we’ll see you all next time. Enjoy your dance party on the way out.