AI prompting hacks

When Rob Lennon started his side hustle, he had no audience, no funding, and ZERO traction on his tweets. That was until he put his writing system into ChatGPT, turning two hours of work into six seconds.

Pretty soon, he said “so long, sucka” to his job and started a solo AI-powered business. In one year, Rob casually made $500,000 teaching AI prompts.

Output Sketching

A lot of people think they know how to talk to ChatGPT, only to be disappointed by the response to a simple prompt like “Write me a LinkedIn post.”

The problem is, that prompt doesn’t give the model any direction.

To guide the AI, give it a mini “map” of your desired output.

Rob calls this Output Sketching.

Try this:

Hook: [Scroll-stopping one-liner]
Benefit: [Why your reader cares]
Main Idea: [Your core message]
Proof: [Quick example or stat]
CTA: [What they should do next]

Why it works: ChatGPT no longer has to “predict” every word. Now it has a frame where it can quickly fill in the details.

Sketch outputs for anything from LinkedIn posts and case studies to YouTube scripts, so the AI always follows your exact hook-to-CTA flow.

High-gravity words

If ChatGPT’s response still feels bland or generic, chances are it doesn’t know what to focus on.

High-gravity words are names, ideas, or fields of study that actually carry weight and immediately shift how the model responds.

Instead of “Help me create an offer”...

Try this:

“Help me create an offer using Dan Kennedy’s principles for direct-response marketing.”

Or this:

“You’re an expert in buyer psychology. Help me write this sales page.”

Why it works: These high-gravity words help the AI lock onto useful references and pull your output in a stronger direction.

Build your gravity list

Level up your prompts by making a living doc of your favorite:

Experts (e.g., Joe Sugarman, Eugene Schwartz, Noah Kagan)
Disciplines (e.g., behavioral economics, buyer psychology)
Frameworks (e.g., StoryBrand, PAS, AIDA)

Use high-gravity words to generate ad copy with Eugene Schwartz’s 5 Levels of Awareness or build an AIDA-based email sequence for higher conversions.

👉 Watch the full video with Rob to get even more helpful prompts for stuff like social media and client growth.

“ChadGPT”

Noah Kagan is the face of AppSumo, but the tech brains behind the operation is our CTO Chad Boyda. And Chad just might be the most prolific user of AI we’ve ever seen. (This is our version of “My dad is cooler than your dad.”)

One of the dopest things about Chad is he doesn’t gatekeep knowledge. He’s always sharing his wisdom with the team, like sending out regular Slack messages with helpful tips or teaching our Head of Operations how to vibe code.

Here are two AI gems from a recent message you can use:

Make Claude your sidekick. Chad swears by Claude Code. It’s less “chatbot” and more “co-pilot for your brain,” keeping all your thinking, coding, and organizing in one place.
Let Gemini handle your charts. Drop in a CSV, ask for a chart, and Gemini magically makes you high-quality graphs and visuals for your next deck.

AGI? NCP? WTF?

If you’ve ever faked your way through a convo about AI while secretly Googling acronyms, Aakash Gupta’s glossary on X covers essentials from “AGI” to “Ground Truth.”

Now you’ll sound like a pro in prompts or meetings.

Got a go-to AI prompt? Or a hot take on ChatGPT-5?

Reply to this email, and your response might show up in the next edition.

❤️ & 🌮,
The AppSumo Team

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Prompt like a pro