An AI tool cannot know which services you actually provide, what your team has approved or what a customer should do next unless you supply that context. A useful brief turns those details into a small, organized set of instructions. The goal is a draft your team can review efficiently, with missing information visible instead of filled in by invention.
Collect the facts the draft is allowed to use
Start with the specific service or offer, who it helps, the area served and any conditions that change its meaning. Include a price or deadline only when you have checked it with the person responsible. Give the tool the exact destination and action you want the reader to take, such as reading a preparation guide or requesting an estimate.
Separate confirmed facts from open questions. A blank availability field does not mean appointments are available immediately. Write ‘availability must be confirmed’ when that is the actual situation. Do not paste customer messages, passwords or private account details just to make the brief feel complete. Summarize the relevant question without identifying the person who asked it.
Describe the reader’s situation and the post’s job
Tell the tool what the reader is trying to decide. ‘A business owner preparing their first print order’ provides a more usable context than ‘anyone who wants quality printing.’ Add the question the post must answer and the one action it should support. This gives the draft a reason to exist beyond announcing that your business is available.
Specify the form you need: a short caption, an explanatory post or copy to accompany a particular image. Set a practical length for this draft without presenting it as a platform limit. If you need options, request meaningfully different approaches, such as a preparation tip and a common-question answer, rather than several versions that only swap adjectives.
State exclusions before asking for persuasive copy
List claims the draft must not make. These might include guaranteed results, invented testimonials, unverified discounts, ‘best in town’ language or a response time your team cannot promise. Explain any vocabulary that could misrepresent your service. For example, a request for an assessment should not become a confirmed booking in the generated copy.
Give one or two examples of the tone you actually use. Plain, friendly and specific are useful directions when paired with a sample sentence. Ask the tool to flag missing information separately, not insert guesses into publishable text. A draft that identifies one unresolved detail is more useful than polished copy built around a made-up fact.
Use a compact brief with a separate review output
Put facts, instructions and unresolved items under separate labels. This makes the brief reusable and helps a reviewer understand where a statement came from. Ask for the customer-facing draft first, followed by a short list of assumptions or questions. Keep those notes out of the text you eventually publish.
The fictional brief below concerns a preparation tip, so it needs no promotional deadline or price. Replace the details with your approved information. If you later turn the same topic into an offer, supply the exact offer terms rather than asking the tool to ‘make it irresistible’ without constraints.
Illustrative AI brief
Draft a 100–140-word social caption for a fictional print shop. Reader: an owner preparing a first flyer order. Job: help them prepare an estimate request. Approved facts: we need finished size, quantity and required date before assessing the job. Action: read our print-enquiry checklist. Tone: practical, friendly, no hype. Do not invent prices, turnaround times, discounts or customer results. Do not call an estimate request a booking. Return the caption, then a separate list of facts or links I still need to confirm.
Review the draft against the brief, not just its fluency
Check each factual statement against your approved notes. Read the action and destination together, and look for added promises hidden in phrases such as ‘ready tomorrow’ or ‘guaranteed to attract customers.’ Remove unsupported additions even when they sound plausible. Also check whether the draft actually answers the reader’s original question.
If the result misses the mark, change the brief or identify the exact sentence to revise. Repeatedly asking for ‘better’ copy can produce louder language without improving usefulness. Save the final brief alongside the approved post so the next person can see the facts, exclusions and decisions that produced it.
- Approved facts are separate from unknowns.
- The reader and post purpose are specific.
- The next step has a real destination.
- Unsupported claims are expressly excluded.
- A person has checked the final draft before publication.
Your next step
Brief one post using five labels: reader, job, approved facts, action and exclusions. Ask for a draft plus unresolved questions, then check every factual sentence before approving it.
