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The B2B marketers guide to prompt engineering

Jan Dalsfort on October 4, 2024

Since you’re here, chances are you’ve heard about how AI is transforming marketing. But let’s cut through the noise. AI is only as good as the instructions you feed it. If you want your AI to spit out something useful—whether that’s a killer blog post, an engaging email campaign, or a strategic recommendation—it all starts with mastering the art of prompting.

We’re talking about prompt engineering. For marketers, understanding how to craft effective prompts is what separates the AI amateurs from the pros. It’s like giving your AI a map versus saying, “Good luck, find your way!” So, let’s dive in and see what it takes to make your AI work for you.

Why you should care about prompt engineering

Think of a prompt as the command that sets your AI in motion. It’s like setting the GPS for a road trip. A vague prompt like “Create a marketing plan” is the equivalent of saying “Drive somewhere fun.” Sure, you might end up at a decent destination, but it’s probably not going to be exactly what you envisioned.

For enterprises juggling multiple markets, regions, and languages, this precision is even more critical. You’re not just looking for good content – you need the right content, tailored for every stakeholder, every time. Without clear prompts, you risk getting outputs that are off-brand, misaligned, or just plain irrelevant.

Types of AI prompts you need to know

Not all prompts are created equal. Depending on your goal, you might need a simple directive or a highly detailed instruction. Let’s break down the main types of prompts and where they shine:

Basic Prompts: These are straightforward commands like, “Generate a 100-word email introduction for our new product launch.” It’s fine for quick content, but it won’t win you any awards.
Contextual Prompts: Here’s where you add some meat to the bones. A contextual prompt might sound like, “Write a LinkedIn post targeting procurement managers in manufacturing, focusing on cost efficiency and compliance.” The context helps your AI narrow its focus and align with specific personas.
Complex Prompts: This is where things get fun. A complex prompt could be: “Create a 3-part email series for mid-level managers in the healthcare industry. Each email should highlight a different benefit of our product, focusing first on compliance, then ease of use, and finally, ROI.” With this, you’re guiding the AI through a whole journey.
Conversational Prompts: Perfect for chatbots and interactive content. It’s about framing the conversation flow. For example: “If the user asks about pricing, respond with a general price range and offer a meeting for a detailed quote.”

When used correctly, these prompts aren’t just instructions—they’re the key to turning AI from a passive tool into an active collaborator.

The biggest mistakes marketers make with prompts

Look, we’ve all been there. You throw a half-baked command into your AI, and then spend the next hour wondering why the output is all over the place. Here are the top three prompting mistakes marketers make (and how to avoid them):

Being too vague: If your prompt is generic, your output will be, too. “Write a blog about AI” isn’t going to cut it. Instead, try: “Write a blog post for B2B tech companies exploring how AI can optimize supply chain management.”

Trying to do too much: Don’t overload your AI with endless instructions. “Generate a content plan, social posts, emails, and ad copy for our new product” is a recipe for disaster. Split these into separate, focused prompts for better results.

Ignoring tone and style: AI will take the path of least resistance. If you don’t specify tone, style, or audience, don’t be surprised when the output feels flat. Always include these elements to keep your content consistent.

Crafting prompts for real-world marketing challenges

Okay, so how do you actually build effective prompts for your needs? Let’s talk strategy. For enterprise marketing, the stakes are high. Your prompts need to be tailored to handle complex messaging, diverse audiences, and multi-channel outputs.

Start with the goal: Every prompt should begin with what you want to achieve. Is it an email that drives clicks? A social post that boosts engagement? A whitepaper that educates? Be clear about the endgame.Example: “Create a 5-page whitepaper for mid-sized tech companies on the benefits of using AI in marketing. Use a professional tone and include at least 3 case studies.”
Layer in context: Add background information to help the AI understand what it’s working with. Include target audience, tone, and any specific messaging angles.Example: “Draft a landing page targeting CFOs in the finance industry. Highlight cost savings, risk reduction, and ease of implementation.”
Specify constraints: Set limits like word count, structure, or required keywords. These constraints act as guardrails to keep your AI on track.Example: “Create a 200-word email introducing our new service. Use the keywords: AI-driven, compliance, and scalable.”
Iterate and fine-tune: Don’t expect a perfect result on the first try. Test different variations of your prompt, and refine based on what works best.Example: If the initial email comes off as too formal, adjust your prompt to specify, “Use a conversational tone.”

Unlocking Magnity’s full potential with AI prompting

Magnity isn’t your average AI platform. It’s built to handle the complexity of enterprise marketing, supporting content generation across any market or language. With Magnity’s capabilities, you can transform prompt engineering into a scalable process that saves time and resources. Did you know we have more that 100 prebuild prompts each with a specific purpose. This should make it alot easier to create quality content.

Personalization at Scale: With Magnity, you can create personalized content for multiple personas, geographies, and industries—all from a single prompt. Imagine setting up a prompt for a product launch that generates different emails for C-level execs, middle management, and front-line employees, each tailored to their unique concerns.
Localization Made Easy: AI prompting isn’t just about language translation. It’s about capturing the nuances of different markets. Use prompts that specify local preferences and regional pain points to produce content that resonates globally.
Content Optimization in Real-Time: Want to test different messaging angles? Use Magnity’s built-in testing features to refine your prompts and see what works best, without having to start from scratch each time.

Prompt engineering is more than just typing a few words into a text box. It’s a skill that, when mastered, can transform your AI from a content generator into a strategic partner. For enterprise marketers, mastering prompt engineering isn’t optional—it’s essential. So, next time you sit down to craft that perfect prompt, remember: the clearer the map, the better the journey.

Big brand, bigger headaches

Jan Dalsfort on August 8, 2024

Enterprise marketing is a wild ride, especially for B2B companies. While big brands often shine on the surface, behind the scenes, things can be chaotic. Let’s dive into the reality of B2B marketing and explore some of the biggest challenges these companies face.

One of the biggest misconceptions about large B2B companies is that they have their marketing strategies perfectly aligned with corporate goals. In reality, most big brands struggle with alignment. Various departments, from marketing to sales to customer service, often have their own goals and KPIs, leading to a fragmented approach. This lack of cohesion can result in inconsistent messaging and missed opportunities, ultimately impacting the enterprise marketing return.

Unlike their B2C counterparts, B2B companies typically have less data at their disposal. Consumer brands can gather vast amounts of data from direct interactions with their customers through purchases, social media, and other channels. B2B companies, on the other hand, often rely on smaller datasets, making it challenging to gain deep insights into customer behavior. This limited data hampers their ability to personalize marketing efforts and make data-driven decisions, which are crucial for optimizing ROI.

The ABM challenge

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) has become a buzzword in B2B marketing, but implementing it is easier said than done. Most marketing teams simply don’t have the headcount to create and manage ABM programs that are fully aligned with sales and other departments. ABM requires a high level of coordination and a deep understanding of each target account, which can be resource-intensive. Without sufficient staff and resources, many companies struggle to execute ABM effectively, leading to subpar results.

Collecting the right data and building actionable insights from it is another significant challenge for B2B marketers. It’s not just about having data; it’s about having the right data. B2B transactions often involve longer sales cycles and multiple touchpoints, making it difficult to track and analyze the customer journey. Additionally, data silos within large organizations can further complicate the process. Without a unified view of the customer, it’s hard to develop effective marketing strategies that drive enterprise marketing return.

Implementing Account-Based Marketing (ABM) in B2B is challenging due to high coordination and resource demands, often leading to subpar outcomes. Long sales cycles and multiple touchpoints complicate data collection and customer journey analysis. Managing complex buyer personas with diverse stakeholders further strains resources, requiring extensive research and customized messaging.

Long and winding road of B2B sales

One of the most pressing challenges in enterprise marketing is dealing with long sales cycles, which are characteristic of the B2B sector. These extended cycles often involve multiple stakeholders and complex decision-making processes, stretching the timeline from initial contact to final purchase. This prolonged process can delay the realization of return on investment (ROI) and complicate the measurement of marketing effectiveness. Marketers must maintain engagement with potential clients over these extended periods, requiring sustained effort and resources. This includes continuous nurturing of leads through personalized content, regular follow-ups, and strategic touchpoints to keep prospects interested and moving through the sales funnel.

Another significant challenge is managing the complexity of buyer personas in B2B marketing. Unlike B2C markets, where marketing efforts are often directed at a single decision-maker or a relatively homogenous group of consumers, B2B transactions typically involve a diverse group of stakeholders, each with their own priorities, concerns, and criteria for making decisions. Crafting messaging that resonates with all these different personas is both challenging and resource-intensive. Marketers need to develop a deep understanding of each stakeholder’s role and needs, requiring extensive research and sophisticated segmentation. This complexity demands a high level of customization in marketing efforts, which can strain resources and complicate the overall marketing strategy.

The solution: Enter Magnity

So, how can B2B companies navigate these challenges and improve their marketing efforts? This is where Magnity comes in. Magnity is an AI-powered marketing platform designed to simplify and accelerate the enterprise marketing process.

Enhancing Personalization and Automation: Magnity excels in personalization, allowing marketers to create customized content for different personas. The platform’s AI-driven automation capabilities reduce the time and effort required for tasks like audience segmentation and personalized messaging, enabling marketing teams to focus on strategy and creativity.

Optimizing Resource Allocation: With advanced analytics, Magnity helps B2B companies identify the most effective channels and tactics, ensuring resources are allocated efficiently. This data-driven approach aligns marketing efforts with broader corporate goals, maximizing enterprise marketing return.

Global Reach and Localization: Magnity supports localization and translation across over 100 languages, ensuring your message resonates with global audiences. This feature saves time and guarantees consistency and accuracy in communications, helping build a strong international presence.

The challenge of personalization at scale

Jan Dalsfort on August 4, 2024

Personalization at scale is a significant challenge for many businesses. Crafting personalized marketing messages traditionally takes a significant amount of time and resources, which many companies find difficult to manage. The complexity of tailoring content to meet the unique needs of every customer often results in generic campaigns that fail to engage.

According to research by Forrester Consulting, commissioned by Adobe, 98% of digital marketers agree that overcoming personalization challenges is crucial. However, the process is often hindered by the time and effort required to collect data, create content, and deploy personalized campaigns efficiently (Adobe).

While B2C companies can leverage more straightforward personalization techniques (like personalized recommendations or emails), B2B brands need to cater to highly specific needs and preferences of each business client. This requires a more nuanced and scalable approach to personalization, which can be difficult to implement effectively.

The Cost of ineffective personalization

The impact of ineffective personalization is profound. When businesses fail to deliver relevant and timely content, they miss out on potential engagement and revenue opportunities. Customers today expect personalized experiences, and when these expectations are not met, they are more likely to disengage.

Failing to personalize marketing efforts can lead to several issues:

Decreased Customer Engagement: Generic messages do not resonate with customers, leading to lower engagement rates. Personalized content significantly boosts customer interaction and satisfaction.
Lost Revenue Opportunities: Without personalization, businesses miss chances to convert leads into customers. Personalized marketing strategies are proven to drive higher conversion rates.
Weakened Customer Loyalty: Customers who do not feel valued and understood by a brand are less likely to remain loyal. Personalization helps build stronger relationships and fosters customer loyalty.

The same study found that 80% of surveyed organizations rate personalization as critical to business growth. Moreover, 75% of experience leaders are expanding their personalization efforts, recognizing that relevant content increases customer engagement and loyalty.

Enter Magnity.ai, your solution to the personalization at scale dilemma. Magnity.ai leverages the power of AI to transform how you create and deliver personalized marketing campaigns. Here’s how we make personalization effortless:

Speed and efficiency
Magnity drastically reduces the time required to craft personalized marketing messages. With our platform, what once took days can now be achieved in mere seconds, allowing you to stay ahead in the fast-paced business landscape.

Comprehensive email personalization
Magnity.ai excels in building highly personalized emails. From subject lines to call-to-actions, every element is tailored to engage your audience effectively.

Multi-language translation
Expand your reach with our built-in translation capabilities. Magnity.ai personalizes content in any language, ensuring your message resonates with global audiences.

Integrated with major platforms
Seamlessly integrate with major platforms, including Salesforce, Marketo, and HubSpot. Leverage existing tools and data for a streamlined workflow.

Discover how Magnity.ai can help you create personalized marketing experiences that resonate deeply with your audience and propel your business forward.

Gen AI is perfectly imperfect and hugely Impactful

Jan Dalsfort on July 26, 2024

Generative AI has made significant strides, but it’s important to remember that we’re still in the early days of its development. A notable milestone was the launch of Chat GPT-3 on November 30, 2022. This event marked a significant step forward in AI capabilities, yet it also highlighted the challenges and limitations that remain.

Why AIs and LLMs struggle with counting ‘R’s in strawberry

One intriguing limitation of large language models (LLMs) and AI is their inability to count specific letters in words accurately, such as counting the ‘R’s in “strawberry.” This difficulty arises because LLMs don’t read words as individual letters but rather as tokens. Tokens are chunks of text that can be whole words or parts of words that the model processes. This token-based approach enables the AI to understand and generate text in a human-like manner, but it also leads to challenges in tasks that require precise letter-by-letter analysis.

On social media, it has been pointed out several times, that LLMs like Chat GPT cannot even count the number of the letter R in Strawberry. If you ask Chat GPT something like “how many Rs are there in strawberry?”, it simply replies 2, instead of the correct answer 3. This is because LLMs breaks languages down into tokens rather than letters. And from there, it can predict the next tokens. You can of course get the correct answer by giving some context to the task and guardrails.

95% quality in 1% of the time

One of the most compelling advantages of using AI in content creation is the incredible efficiency it offers. Achieving 95% quality in just 1% of the time traditionally required is a game-changer for businesses. This efficiency means teams can produce high-quality content rapidly, freeing up valuable time for strategic planning and creative endeavors.

The rapid pace at which AI can generate content translates to substantial time savings, allowing businesses to meet tight deadlines without compromising on quality. For instance, marketing campaigns that once took weeks to plan, draft, and revise can now be executed in a matter of days. This speed not only enhances productivity but also provides a competitive edge in fast-paced markets where timely communication is crucial.

Understanding AI hallucinations

Despite its many strengths, AI has a critical flaw: it can generate incorrect information with remarkable confidence. This phenomenon is known as a hallucination. AI can sometimes fabricate facts or present false information convincingly. This isn’t due to any malice or intent to deceive but rather a byproduct of how AI models learn and generate text. They predict and generate text based on patterns in the data they were trained on, which can sometimes lead to confidently presented inaccuracies.

To mitigate the risk of AI hallucinations, it’s essential to provide the AI with clear context, well-defined goals, and strict guardrails. Context helps the AI understand the topic and the nuances of the content it needs to generate. Clear goals ensure that the AI’s output aligns with the intended purpose, while guardrails act as constraints that limit the AI’s ability to deviate from accurate and relevant information. These measures help ensure that the AI produces reliable and factual content.

Magnity’s approach: Ensuring consistent and high-quality Content

At Magnity, we prioritize the quality and consistency of our AI-generated content. By using your own content on your own website, we ensure a consistent tone of voice in all our email communications. Additionally, we have an extensive set of writing rules, compliance guidelines, and detailed persona descriptions. These elements work together to significantly improve the quality of the output, ensuring that the content not only meets but exceeds your expectations.

By leveraging these advanced AI techniques and maintaining stringent quality controls, Magnity helps you harness the power of AI while minimizing its pitfalls, ensuring your email campaigns are both efficient and effective.

How long does it take to create B2B email campaigns?

Jan Dalsfort on July 26, 2024

Email marketing is widely recognized as the most effective channel for B2B, offering unparalleled ROI and engagement. Despite its proven efficacy, creating compelling email campaigns is often a cumbersome and time-consuming task. According to the 2023 State of Email Workflows report, an overwhelming 62% of marketing teams spend two weeks or more crafting a single campaign. This significant time investment not only hampers productivity but also leads to missed opportunities and diluted messaging.

According to the 2023 State of Email Workflows report, an overwhelming 62% of marketing teams spend two weeks or more crafting a single campaign.

Spending two weeks or more on an email campaign presents significant challenges for marketing teams. Engaging with your audience only a few times a year due to lengthy production cycles can make it difficult for your brand to stay top of mind. Regular, consistent engagement is essential in B2B marketing, where it takes several touchpoints to move your audience and decision-makers further down the buying funnel. Additionally, the internal and external costs for review, compliance validation, personalization, and translation are high.

The complexity of B2B email campaigns

B2B email marketing is inherently complex due to several factors. Unlike B2C marketing, which often focuses on broad appeals, B2B marketing requires a deep understanding of the target audience’s specific needs, pain points, and business contexts. This level of personalization is crucial for effective communication but also significantly increases the time needed for campaign creation.

Key challenges in the process

Building Emails: This foundational step involves more than just drafting a message. It requires designing a visually appealing layout, ensuring mobile compatibility, and coding the template. This step alone can take considerable time, especially if multiple iterations are needed.
Content Creation: Crafting compelling content that speaks directly to your audience’s needs is another time-consuming task. It involves research, drafting, editing, and often obtaining approvals from various stakeholders.
Collecting Feedback: Once a draft is ready, it needs to be reviewed by multiple internal stakeholders, including marketing managers, sales teams, and sometimes legal departments. Coordinating this feedback loop can add days, if not weeks, to the process.
Testing: Before sending out an email, extensive testing is required to ensure that it renders correctly across different email clients and devices. This step is crucial for maintaining professionalism and effectiveness but is often a major bottleneck.

The impact of team size and resources

The time required to produce B2B email campaigns is also influenced by team size and available resources. Smaller teams, often with limited personnel, can find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks involved. According to the same report, many marketing teams are understaffed or under-resourced, further extending the time required for email production. Even larger teams, despite having more hands on deck, can face delays. Larger teams often handle a greater volume of emails simultaneously, adding complexity to coordination and increasing the potential for bottlenecks.

Strategies to streamline the process

Despite these challenges, B2B marketing teams can employ several strategies to streamline their email creation process:

Use of templates and frameworks: Employing pre-designed HTML frameworks or email templates can significantly reduce the time needed for design and coding. According to the report, 60% of marketing teams already use these tools to expedite their workflows.
Incorporating snippets and partials: Reusable code snippets and partial templates can help speed up the building phase. Currently, 31% of marketers use these tools, and an additional 16% plan to implement them.
Efficient feedback loops: Implementing structured feedback processes, such as scheduled review meetings or centralized feedback platforms, can help reduce the time spent in this phase.

Balancing quality and efficiency

The time investment required for B2B email marketing is substantial, reflecting the complexity and importance of these campaigns. While the process can be cumbersome, understanding the key challenges and implementing strategies to streamline the workflow can lead to more efficient production without compromising on quality.

Educating your team about these strategies and encouraging the adoption of time-saving tools and techniques can transform your email marketing efforts. By addressing the common roadblocks and optimizing your workflow, you can reduce the time spent on creating email campaigns, allowing your team to focus more on crafting messages that truly resonate with your audience.

Take Time Out of the Equation with Magnity

Creating B2B email campaigns can be a time-consuming process, often leaving marketing teams overwhelmed. The struggle to personalize content for diverse audiences and translate messages into multiple languages further complicates this task. Recognizing these challenges, we developed Magnity, an AI-powered marketing platform designed to simplify and accelerate the email creation process

Magnity reduces time spent creating marketing content with 99%. That means you can focus on the important stuff and let Magnity do the heavy lifting.

Magnity takes the complexity out of email marketing by allowing you to create personalized, multilingual campaigns in a matter of seconds. Whether you’re targeting a specific buyer persona or addressing a global audience, Magnity ensures your messages are tailored to meet the needs and preferences of every recipient. Let’s explore how Magnity transforms email marketing and helps you stay ahead of the competition.

How Magnity makes a difference

Our AI-native platform is designed to deliver personalization at scale, making it a game-changer for marketing teams. Here’s how Magnity stands out:

1. Reduces time spent creating B2B marketing content by 99%

Imagine cutting down the time it takes to create compelling email content from hours to mere minutes. With Magnity, this becomes a reality. Our platform automates the creation process, allowing your team to focus on strategy and creativity while the AI handles the heavy lifting.

2. Localize and translate content across 100+ languages automatically

Global outreach has never been easier. Magnity automatically translates your content into over 100 languages, ensuring your message resonates with audiences worldwide. This feature not only saves time but also guarantees consistency and accuracy in your communications, helping you build a strong international presence.

3. Personalize content to fit any persona you have or want to build

Effective email marketing hinges on personalization. Magnity excels in this area by allowing you to customize your content for any persona, whether it’s a well-defined buyer segment or a new target audience you’re looking to engage. Our platform analyzes data to create highly relevant and personalized emails that drive engagement and conversions.

Benefits of using Magnity

By leveraging the power of AI, Magnity addresses the key challenges of email marketing, providing numerous benefits:

Increased Efficiency: Automating the email creation process frees up valuable time for your team, enabling them to focus on more strategic tasks.
Enhanced Personalization: Delivering tailored content to your audience increases the likelihood of engagement and conversion, making your campaigns more effective.
Global Reach: Seamless translation and localization help you connect with audiences around the world, expanding your market reach.

Consistency and Accuracy: AI ensures that your messaging is consistent and error-free across all languages and formats.

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