According to Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI, learning to structure prompts properly is one of the most powerful productivity skills any modern small business owner can master.

For small business owners, this isn’t just a technical skill, it’s a very tangible growth advantage which will yield immediate results. A well-crafted prompt can turn a generic chatbot into a virtual marketing assistant, HR recruiter, or business strategist, working alongside you 24/7.

Brockman recommends using a clear, repeatable structure whenever you prompt an AI, using a four-part framework that looks like this:

1. Goal: What do you actually want the AI to achieve?
   Example: “Write a 200-word email inviting parents to our new Weekend Tech Academy.”
    
2. Format: How should the response be presented?
   Example: “Use a friendly, professional tone with short paragraphs and a clear call-to-action.”
    
3. Warning: What should the AI avoid doing?
   Example: “Don’t sound robotic or overly promotional in the response.”
    
4. Context: Provide any relevant background - as much detail as possible here.
   Example: “ComputerXplorers South Buckinghamshire runs after-school tech clubs teaching coding, robotics, and AI.”

When these four elements are combined, the results are consistently sharper, faster, and more aligned with your brand voice. You will quickly move from getting lucky with your AI to consistently engineering useful, on-brand output every time.

For small business owners in Buckinghamshire juggling sales, marketing, and operations, mastering this structure can save hours each week. It removes the guesswork, builds consistency across tasks, and turns AI from a novelty into a genuine strategic partner.

A great next step is to build a simple 'prompt library' in a shared document, such as Google Docs or Microsoft OneNote, with sections for marketing, recruitment, and finance. Over time, this becomes your business’s internal AI playbook, helping your team get reliable results without starting from scratch each time.

As Greg Brockman puts it: “Prompting is a new literacy. The clearer your instruction, the more capable your AI becomes.”

In today’s fast-moving business world, clarity is power, and prompt structure is how you unlock it.

(Source: Greg Brockman, Open AI: The Ultimate Guide to Structuring Prompts)

Webinar, November 14th: Bring your AI prompts to life

Join us to dive deeper into automation tools that bring your AI prompts to life, including Microsoft Copilot and Power Automate. Learn how they can help small businesses save time, reduce costs, and scale smarter.

Buckinghamshire Business First members get a 25% discount. Book your place here.

By David Reilly, Managing Director, ComputerXplorers South Buckinghamshire

ComputerXplorers South Buckinghamshire empowers children and communities through technology, coding, and creativity.