The 4-Part Prompt Formula

The four parts

1. 1
   Role. Tell it who to be. "Act like a world-class marketing strategist who focuses on conversion for software." This narrows everything it knows down to the part you actually want.
2. 2
   Context. Give it the background. Paste the email thread, the call notes, the product page, the spec. The more real context it has, the less generic the answer.
3. 3
   Command. Say exactly what you want done. Be explicit. Make the implicit explicit: not "help with this," but "rewrite the headline so a busy owner gets it in three seconds."
4. 4
   Format. Tell it how to hand the answer back. Bulleted list, short table, CSV, one paragraph. Format is how you use the output in the next tool instead of reformatting it yourself.

A fill-in-the-blank template

Copy this, replace the brackets, paste it in:

Role: Act like a [expert role] who specializes in [your situation].
Context: Here is the background you need: [paste everything relevant].
Command: [Exactly what you want, stated plainly.]
Format: Give it back as [a 5-bullet list / a short table / a one-paragraph reply].

Why it works

AI is pattern recognition: it predicts the next most likely word from what you give it. Garbage in, garbage out. Good context in, useful answer out. The quality of the output never beats the quality of the input.

Power move: hand it a template

For the Format step, you can paste an actual example to copy. "Here is the format, follow this template exactly: [paste]." Now it cannot wander outside the lines you drew.