The prompts we run with science and technology clients before a rebrand, a website or a raise. Copy them, fill the brackets, verify everything that comes back. They work in ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini.
One rule: load context first. Paste who you are, who buys from you, the three alternatives they consider and any real proof you have. Without that, every prompt below returns the average of the internet.
Positioning
1. Map the alternatives.
List every alternative a [buyer role] at a [company type] would consider instead of us, including doing nothing, building in-house and hiring a person. For each one, write the sentence the buyer would use to justify choosing it. Then tell me which alternative we lose to most often and why.
2. Generate positions, not statements.
Give me six positions we could own, each on a different axis: speed, cost, specialization in [sector], depth of expertise, ease of working with us, and one I have missed. For each: the one-sentence position, who it attracts, who it repels, and what we would have to stop doing to make it true.
3. Write the statement, then attack it.
Write our positioning statement as: For [buyer] who [situation], [company] is the [category] that [key benefit], because [proof]. Three versions. Then respond to each as a buyer who just read it: what do they not believe, what sounds like every other vendor, what do they ask next?
Brand comparison
4. The comparison table. Paste real competitor copy. The model has not seen their sites.
Here is the homepage headline, subheadline and first paragraph from three competitors: [A]. [B]. [C]. Here is ours: [paste]. Build a table with rows for: who they say they serve, the main benefit claimed, the proof offered, the tone, and the words all four of us use. Then tell me which claims are crowded, which are empty and which position is open.
Brand voice + guidelines
5. Draft the brand guidelines from your notes.
Here are my notes on how we sound, who we talk to and words we avoid: [paste]. Here are five pieces of writing that sound like us: [paste]. Turn this into a brand voice guide with six sections: who we talk to; how we sound; rules we follow; words we never use; patterns we strip out; examples. Under 800 words. Do not add traits I did not show you evidence for.
6. Audit before you edit.
Read this draft and list every word or pattern that breaks our voice rules. Do not rewrite it yet. [paste]
Naming
7. Pressure-test a name.
Evaluate the name [Name] for a [stage] [type of company] working on [area]. List: 1) existing products, companies or technical terms it could be confused with; 2) how it sounds on a call and whether it needs spelling out; 3) any negative meaning in German, French, Japanese and Mandarin; 4) what kind of company it reads as. Finish with the single biggest risk of using it.
Personas
8. The user and the buyer.
Create two personas for [product]. A uses it day to day. B signs off on the budget. For each: title, what they read, what a bad week looks like, what they have been burned by before, and the one sentence they need to hear to take a meeting. Then list three places where A and B want different things from us.
Brand story
9. The story others will repeat.
Here is our origin: [founder background, the problem they saw, why now]. Write the two-sentence version an investor would repeat to a partner. Then the version a customer would tell a peer. Then tell me what is missing that would make either stronger.
Website copy
10. The hero.
Write three options for the homepage hero. Each is a headline of 3 to 6 words in sentence case and a 50 to 60 word paragraph covering: who we help, what goes wrong without us, what we do. No adjectives in the headline. No questions. Do not describe the world before you describe the reader.
11. The AI-tells audit, then the fix. Two steps, in this order.
Flag, with line references, every instance of: triads; “not just X, it’s Y”; the words seamless, elevate, leverage, empower, robust, landscape, journey, navigate, harness, unlock, cutting-edge; a rhetorical question followed by its answer; an opener that describes the world rather than the reader; a closing line that summarizes the paragraph; any em dash. Do not rewrite yet.
Fix every flagged item. Keep every fact and proof point. Add no new claims.
Stress test
12. Put the message in the room.
Our core message is: [paste]. Respond as five people in turn: a skeptical expert in our field, an investor who has seen three companies in this space, a procurement manager, a competitor’s head of marketing, and a trade journalist. Each gives a two-sentence first reaction and the question they would ask next.
Go deeper
Each group has a longer post with the reasoning behind it: brand positioning, brand voice, biotech brand development, website copy and the original guide.
When the prompts have taken you as far as they can, start a project.