Your First Prompt — The CRAFT Framework
Learn the simple framework that turns vague questions into powerful AI prompts.
Why Your Prompt Matters
The quality of your AI output depends almost entirely on the quality of your input. This is called prompt engineering — and it’s the single most important AI skill you can learn.
Think of it like giving instructions to a new employee. If you say “do the thing,” you’ll get confused results. If you say “please write a one-page summary of our Q3 sales for the board meeting, focusing on mobile money revenue growth,” you’ll get exactly what you need.
The CRAFT Framework
We’ve developed a simple framework called CRAFT to help you write effective prompts every time:
C — Context
Tell the AI who you are and what situation you’re in.
“I run a small tailoring business in Kumasi, Ghana, with 3 employees…”
R — Role
Tell the AI what role it should play.
“Act as a business marketing consultant…”
A — Action
State the specific task you need done.
“Write 5 social media posts promoting my new ankara collection…”
F — Format
Tell the AI how to structure the response.
“Format each post with a hook, body text, and 3 relevant hashtags…”
T — Tone
Specify the tone you want.
“Use an enthusiastic but professional tone suitable for Instagram…”
Full CRAFT Example
Here’s all five elements combined into one prompt:
“I run a small tailoring business in Kumasi, Ghana, with 3 employees. We specialize in modern ankara designs for young professionals. [Context]
Act as a social media marketing consultant who understands West African fashion. [Role]
Write 5 Instagram posts promoting my new collection launching next Friday. [Action]
Format each post with: a catchy opening line, 2-3 sentences of body text, a call to action, and 3 relevant hashtags. [Format]
Use an enthusiastic, confident tone that appeals to young professionals aged 25-35. [Tone]”
This prompt will get you dramatically better results than “write some posts for my business.”
Practice Exercise
Try writing a CRAFT prompt for one of these scenarios:
Scenario 1: Student You need help understanding a difficult chapter in your economics textbook about monetary policy in developing countries.
Scenario 2: Business Owner You want to write a professional email to a potential supplier in China about importing phone accessories.
Scenario 3: Job Seeker You want to prepare for a job interview at a bank and need practice questions.
Take 2 minutes now. Open Claude and try one of these. Use all 5 CRAFT elements.
Common Prompt Mistakes
Too Vague
- Bad: “Help me with my business”
- Good: “Help me write a business plan for a mobile phone repair shop in Tema, targeting university students”
No Context
- Bad: “Write an email”
- Good: “I’m a shea butter exporter in Tamale. Write an email to a cosmetics buyer in France introducing my organic products”
Not Following Up
Your first response might not be perfect. That’s normal! Follow up with:
- “Make it more formal”
- “Can you add specific numbers?”
- “Focus more on the pricing section”
- “That’s good but make it shorter”
AI conversations are just that — conversations. Don’t stop at the first response.
Pro Tips
- Be specific about length — “Write a 200-word summary” is better than “write a summary”
- Give examples — “Write it in a style similar to this: [paste example]”
- Ask for alternatives — “Give me 3 different versions of this email”
- Iterate — The best results come from refining through 2-3 follow-up messages
The difference between someone who “tried AI and it wasn’t useful” and someone who uses AI to transform their work is usually just 5 minutes of learning how to write better prompts.
Next lesson: Uploading Documents and Images →