Prompt Chaining

The Problem It Solves

When you ask an AI to do something complex in one shot—like "write a campaign brief, then create three ad variations, then suggest targeting parameters"—you often get mediocre output that requires heavy editing. The AI tries to do too much at once and loses focus. Prompt chaining solves this by breaking the work into logical steps, each one feeding into the next.

Think of it like a production assembly line. Instead of asking one person to design, build, and package a product, you have specialists at each station. Each person does their job well, passes their work forward, and the next person builds on it.

How It Works in Marketing

Instead of: "Write a product launch email campaign," you'd chain it like this:

• Prompt 1: Analyze our target audience and their pain points
• Prompt 2: Using that analysis, create a campaign narrative
• Prompt 3: Using the narrative, write three subject lines
• Prompt 4: Using the subject lines and narrative, write the email body

Each prompt references or uses the output from the previous one. The AI stays focused on one job at a time and has context from earlier steps.

Real-World Example

A B2B SaaS marketer needs a case study. Instead of asking "write a case study," they:

1. Ask the AI to extract key metrics and outcomes from customer data
2. Ask it to structure those into a narrative arc
3. Ask it to write the introduction using that structure
4. Ask it to write each section (challenge, solution, results)
5. Ask it to write a conclusion with a clear CTA

Each output is tighter and more on-brand than if they'd asked for the whole thing at once.

What This Means for Tool Selection

When evaluating AI tools, look for ones that make chaining easy—platforms that let you save outputs, reference previous responses, and maintain context across multiple prompts. Tools with memory or conversation history built in reduce friction. Also consider whether the tool allows you to use outputs from one prompt as inputs to another without manual copy-paste.