Using AI to write for your campaign is a must if you want to keep up with the demands of email, social media, and communications, but if you don’t train it on your candidate’s voice, the results will be bland and generic.
AI chatbots respond quickly to customization instructions. With a few prompts and strategies, you can get LLMs like ChatGPT, Grok, and Gemini sounding like your candidate in short order.
Introduce Your Candidate To The AI
Start by providing a copy of your candidate’s biography to the chatbot just like you would introduce him or her to an audience before a speech. Give relevant background about the area they seek to represent, their professional experience, and any interesting hobbies or fun facts.
This instantly gives the AI access to important context for better personalization, a more familiar tone, and relevant anecdotes.
Give The AI Examples To Learn From
Give the AI examples of the candidate’s speech and writing – just like you would a new staff member or intern. LLMs excel at identifying and following patterns.
When gathering examples be sure to select a variety of samples, including emails, speeches, op-eds, text messages, and website posts. Explain the context behind each one:
- What was the occasion?
- What was the relevant news item or issue?
- Why did you use or not use certain words?
By explaining why certain language choices work, you help the AI quickly learn to mimic your candidate's unique style and tone in future writing.
Review And Iterate
After the AI has studied your examples, check how well it's grasped your candidate's voice - not just the content it generates. This is when you evaluate whether it understands their tone, style, structure, and personality correctly.
If something isn’t quite right, like a reference that’s inaccurate or a joke the candidate would never make, correct the AI.
Establish Guidelines
Now that the tone is well established, it’s time to provide additional requirements
- Campaign Themes: Are you a MAGA fighter or common sense conservative?
- Key Issue Positions: What are the three most important things your campaign is about?
- Language to Avoid: Are there words you want to avoid, like legalese or jargon?
In this step, you can even add quirky rules like no contractions or never use the word “that” which are common among candidates.
Request A Prompt
Finally, ask the chat for a prompt that would instruct future AI models to write in the candidate’s style:
Generate a prompt clearly and concisely instructing an LLM on how to write in [Name]'s style. Be sure to incorporate my feedback and some examples.
Conclusion
Learning to use AI for campaigning is a super power that you can’t afford to avoid. If you’ve ever been underwhelmed by the bland outputs of a chatbot, these steps will ensure you’re getting responses that sound authentic to your candidate.
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