Now that we’ve discussed the importance of security when using AI (go back and read the last blog if you haven’t yet) …we can move onto the steps to take so you’re not creating AI slop.
First on the list is to fully define your business context. This is the basis of the instructions for your AI assistant – the training. Yes, you need to train your AI assistant, just like you would a new employee.
What is business context?
At the most basic level, this is the who, what, why, where, and how of your business. Once your AI assistant has a grasp on the full picture of your company, the content it provides will be much more targeted to your needs. It will take some time to build but is vital to your success with AI. (Remember…don’t include anything proprietary to your business.)
Who You Are
- Basic info – company name, website, location.
- Mission and core purpose – This is the ‘why’ behind your business. It helps shape the tone of any messaging and gives your AI assistant directions for strategic alignment.
- What you sell – The specific product(s) or service(s), in language a novice would understand. Details will come later in the process.
- Company stage and size – How you communicate is different if you’re a 3-person start-up or a 500-employee 5th generation manufacturer. So, it’s important information for your AI assistant.
- Historical context – You don’t need incredible detail here, but the founding story or recent history of the organization may help provide additional context and drive a narrative.
Who You Serve
- Ideal customer profile – Industry, company size, role, and other demographics of the customers you want not just the ones you already have.
- Customer pain points – What keeps them up at night, what do they struggle with the most in your industry? It could be poor customer service, long lead times, high costs, etc.
- Their decision-making process – Do buyers find you and make quick decisions, does a CEO think through every possible outcome, do you often have multiple stakeholders that must come to a consensus? These all require different tactics.
- Common objections – What are the most frequent concerns that stop people from buying?
Competition
- Key competitors – at least the top 3.
- Key differentiators – Your actual differentiators, not aspirational ones.
Your Brand
- Brand voice and tone – Formal/professional/casual, technical/simple, trustworthy, confident, playful, fun, knowledgeable, clear, informative, serious – there are so many potential adjectives to describe how your organization wants to come across. In addition to a description, upload a sample document that highlights the voice and tone that you want your AI assistant to imitate.
- Words and phrases to use or avoid – This is so important to list so you’re not overusing stereotypical phrases like cutting-edge, best-in-class, etc. You can also mention jargon or legally sensitive words to avoid.
How to get the memory to stick
Now that you’ve written up your business context, you need to make sure your AI assistant learns it. Depending on your platform, there are a few ways to do this…I’ll just cover the basics here.
Regular chat session: You can use a regular chat session for your work, but it’s not ideal. The free version of pretty much every platform offers regular chat sessions BUT, your instructions won’t be retained from one chat session to the next. So, you will have to copy it into the chat every time you get started, saying something like…”For this session, I want you to use the following business context” and then copy-paste the information, or upload your business context as a document.
Projects: ChatGPT, Claude, and Copilot all use “Projects” where you can save Context that stay in memory across every chat session in the project. All platforms allow several projects in their free version (usually 5) but they all work a little differently:
- Claude allows you to both upload documents or type in instructions for context.
- ChatGPT does not allow you to upload documents, so you must copy your business context into the instructions. If you want to upload context documents in ChatGPT (examples or anything else), you must use a CustomGPT (available in paid versions only).
- Copilot only allows you to upload documents, not give written instructions. If you want to include written instructions, you must use Copilot Studio (requires an additional license).
Need some help?
Web Savvy Marketers has decades of experience pulling together business context just like this to create the best marketing plans. We’d be happy to help you gather all the information you need to train your AI assistant – and we can also help you train your AI assistant as well. Contact us for more information.