Today I’m giving you the whole playbook.

Because here’s what I learned the hard way: that snippet works great... for about a week. Then the AI starts drifting. It forgets the rules. It sneaks in a “premium quality” when you weren’t looking. It gets cheerful when you needed calm.

I spent months chasing my own tail. Rewriting prompts. Adding more rules. Deleting rules that contradicted other rules. My “Brand Brain” file looked like a crime scene—sticky notes on top of sticky notes.

So I built a system. A complete Brand Voice document that I paste once and forget. It has guardrails. It has a tone dial I can turn up or down. It even has a one-line test I use to make the AI grade its own work.

This is the exact system I use for Waddles of Joy. And I’m going to show you how to build your own.

Good news: Everything in this post works with the free versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. You don’t need a paid account to use any of it.

Why a Single Snippet Isn’t Enough

That “Brand Brain” snippet from Tuesday? It’s a good start. But it’s missing three things:

1. An Anti-Persona. The snippet tells AI what you want. It doesn’t tell AI what to avoid. Without guardrails, AI will drift toward generic marketing-speak every single time.

2. A Tone Dial. “Warm and friendly” isn’t the same energy for a shipping delay email and a holiday product launch. You need a way to adjust the temperature without rewriting your whole prompt.

3. A Quality Check. How do you know if the output is actually good? You need a test—something quick you can run to catch problems before you hit publish.

The Brand Voice System includes all three. Let me show you how it works.

Part 1: The Core Voice Block

This is your foundation. It’s the expanded version of Tuesday’s snippet—the thing you paste at the top of every request.

Here’s mine for Waddles of Joy:

You are writing in the voice of Waddles of Joy, a penguin-themed brand that spreads joy through whimsical, thoughtfully crafted products.

Your tone is playful but never silly, warm and human, and genuinely kind. You use gentle humor and light penguin wordplay sparingly, always prioritizing sincerity and clarity.

Every message should feel like it was created by a real person who cares—never corporate, never pushy, never gimmicky. The writing should feel cozy, inclusive, and emotionally inviting, while still communicating quality, care, and intention.

Avoid hype, slang, sarcasm, or trend-chasing language. Favor warmth over cleverness, clarity over flair, and joy over sales pressure.

The reader should leave feeling seen, appreciated, and a little happier than before.

What makes this work:

• It describes a person, not a style. (”Real person who cares” is clearer than “professional but friendly.”)

• It includes emotional goals. (”Leave feeling seen, appreciated, and a little happier.”)

• It has specific prohibitions. (”Never corporate, never pushy, never gimmicky.”)

How to write yours:

Start by answering these questions:

• If your brand were a person, how would a friend describe them?

• How should a customer feel after reading your copy?

• What’s the one thing you never want your brand to sound like?

Write those answers in plain English. That’s your Core Voice Block.

How to Actually Use This (The Mechanics)

If you’re new to AI tools, you might be wondering: “Okay, but where do I put all this?”

Good news: it’s simpler than it sounds.

The Basic Method (Works Everywhere)

1. Open ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini in your browser (the free version works fine)

2. Start a new conversation

3. Paste your Brand Voice instructions at the top of the chat window

4. Add your specific request below it

5. Hit enter

That’s it. The AI reads everything in order—your voice instructions first, then your task—and generates output that follows both.

What it looks like in practice:

[YOUR BRAND VOICE BLOCK - paste the whole thing]

[YOUR ANTI-PERSONA - paste this too]

Task: Write a product description for a penguin coffee mug with a blue handle.

You paste all of that into the chat window as one message. The AI treats everything above “Task:” as context and instructions.

Save it somewhere easy to grab. Keep your complete Brand Voice document in a notes app, a text file on your desktop, or a bookmarked Google Doc. When you need it: open, select all, copy, paste into the AI chat, add your task at the bottom. Ten seconds.

One Conversation = One Context

Here’s something important: AI tools don’t remember between conversations. When you start a new chat, it’s a blank slate.

That means you paste your Brand Voice block at the start of every new conversation where you need it. If you’re doing five product descriptions in a row, paste it once at the top, then keep adding tasks in the same chat. The AI will remember your instructions for that entire conversation.

But tomorrow, when you start a fresh chat? Paste it again.

Coming soon: In future posts, I’ll show you how to make this permanent—using ChatGPT’s Custom Instructions, Gemini Gems, or Claude Projects so you never have to paste again. But those features require paid accounts. For now, the copy-paste method works perfectly and costs nothing.

Part 2: The Anti-Persona (The Secret Weapon)

This is the part most people skip. And it’s the part that makes the biggest difference.

The Anti-Persona tells AI what you are not. It’s a list of everything your brand should never sound like—and it works like a force field against generic output.

Here’s mine:

You are NOT:

- A corporate brand
- A big-box retailer
- A hype-driven marketer
- A social media influencer
- An ad agency pitch deck

Avoid completely:
- Buzzwords and marketing clichés
- Sales pressure language (”must-have,” “buy now,” “don’t miss out”)
- Trendy slang or internet speak
- Sarcasm, snark, or irony
- Excessive emojis
- Over-polished or robotic phrasing

Rewrite anything that feels:
- Loud
- Clever-for-the-sake-of-clever
- Impersonal
- Like it could belong to any brand

Why this works:

AI models are trained on mountains of marketing copy. Their “default voice” is the average of every product description, sales email, and landing page on the internet. That average sounds like a corporate press release wrote a blog post.

The Anti-Persona pushes back. It tells the AI, “I know you want to write ‘elevate your morning routine.’ Don’t.”

How to write yours:

Think about the brands you don’t want to sound like. The competitor whose copy makes you cringe. The influencer whose posts feel fake. The big-box store that calls everything “curated.”

Write them down. Then add the specific words and phrases they use. That’s your Anti-Persona.

Part 3: The Tone Slider

This is my favorite part of the system.

Not every piece of copy needs the same energy. A shipping delay email should feel calm and reassuring. A holiday product launch can be more playful. A return policy should be clear and neutral.

Instead of rewriting your voice instructions every time, you use a Tone Slider—a scale from 1 to 5 that tells the AI how much “whimsy” to dial in.

Here’s how I set mine up:

Tone Levels (specify in every prompt):

1 — Calm & Cozy
Gentle, reassuring, minimal charm. No humor required.
Use for: policies, care instructions, shipping notices

2 — Warm & Friendly (Default)
Conversational and kind. Subtle charm, no puns required.
Use for: most product descriptions, thank-you notes

3 — Playful Whimsy
Gentle penguin charm. Feels cheerful but grounded.
Use for: giftable items, seasonal products

4 — Cheerful & Gift-Ready
Joy-forward and festive. Still sincere and controlled.
Use for: holidays, collections, launches

5 — Max Whimsy (Use Sparingly)
Most playful allowed. Still sincere, never chaotic.
Use for: social captions, special announcements

How to use it:

When you write a prompt, just add: “Tone Level: 2” (or whatever you need).

The AI now knows exactly how warm, playful, or restrained to be—without you having to rewrite your voice instructions.

Example in action:

Same product. Two different tone levels.

Tone Level 2 (Warm & Friendly):

“This ceramic mug features a penguin in a cozy yellow scarf, ready to keep you company on chilly mornings. Dishwasher and microwave safe.”

Tone Level 4 (Cheerful & Gift-Ready):

“Meet your new morning companion: a cheerful penguin bundled up in a sunny yellow scarf, ready to make every cup of coffee feel like a snow day. Perfect for gifting (or keeping for yourself—we won’t tell).”

Same voice. Different energy. No rewriting required.

Part 4: The One-Line Checksum

Here’s something that used to drive me crazy: AI would generate something, and I’d think, “This is... fine? Maybe? I don’t know.”

I didn’t have a test. I was just vibing.

So I wrote a single question that cuts through the ambiguity:

Does this sound warm, human, and thoughtfully joyful—like a kind person who cares, not a marketer trying to sell something?

That’s it. If the answer isn’t an immediate yes, I revise.

The Pro Tip:

Here’s the trick that changed everything for me: use the checksum as a follow-up prompt.

After the AI generates something, I paste this as my next message:

Review the text you just wrote. Does it pass this test: “Does this sound warm, human, and thoughtfully joyful—like a kind person who cares, not a marketer trying to sell something?” If not, rewrite it.

You’d be surprised how often the AI catches its own mistakes. It’s like giving your intern a checklist before they hand in their work.

⸻

Putting It All Together: A Full Example

Let’s walk through the whole system with a real product.

The Product: A 15 oz stemless wine glass with festive holiday penguins.

Step 1: The Prompt

[PASTE CORE VOICE BLOCK]

[PASTE ANTI-PERSONA]

[PASTE TONE-SLIDER]

Tone Level: 4 (Cheerful & Gift-Ready)

Task: Write a Shopify product description for a 15 oz stemless wine glass featuring festive holiday penguins. Include a headline and 2-3 sentences of description. Focus on the gifting angle.

Pro tip: If you have a product photo, you can paste or drag the image directly into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini along with your prompt. The AI will “see” the product and pull details from the image—colors, patterns, text on the item—so you don’t have to describe everything yourself. This works in the free versions of all three tools.

Step 2: The Output

Raise a Glass to the Season

These cheerful penguins are ready to celebrate—and they’d like you to join them. This 15 oz stemless wine glass brings a little waddle to your holiday toasts, whether you’re sipping mulled wine by the fire or gifting it to your favorite penguin lover.

Step 3: The Checksum

I paste: “Does this pass the test: ‘Does this sound warm, human, and thoughtfully joyful—like a kind person who cares, not a marketer trying to sell something?’”

AI responds: “Yes, this passes. The tone is warm and gift-focused without being salesy. The phrase ‘a whole lot of holiday charm’ is playful but not over the top.”

Step 4: Done.

Total time: maybe 90 seconds. And I didn’t have to explain my brand voice from scratch.

Your Homework

I’ve attached two templates to this post:

1. My full Waddles of Joy Brand Voice document — so you can see how all the pieces fit together.

2. A blank template — so you can build your own.

This weekend, try this:

1. Write your Core Voice Block (answer the three questions I gave you).

2. Write your Anti-Persona (who do you NOT want to sound like?).

3. Pick three Tone Levels that fit your business.

4. Write your One-Line Checksum.

Then test it. Run one product description through the system and see how it feels.

Reply to this email or comment below and tell me: What’s the hardest part of describing your brand’s voice? I’d love to help you crack it.

See you there.

— Ann

Brand Voice Quick Start

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Waddles Of Joy Brand Voice

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Brand Voice Template Blank

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I used to have a very specific vision of what a “creative entrepreneur’s weekday” looked like.

Here is the reality:

It’s Monday at 10 AM. I haven’t designed a single feather.

Instead, I’m frantically replying to an email asking where a package is. I’m trying to remember if I posted on Instagram. I’m staring at a blank Shopify page, cursor blinking.

I felt like a cave person trying to start a fire with two wet sticks.

If you try to automate your entire business at once, you will quit. But you can start with “Cheat Codes.”

I use AI not to generate generic garbage, but to handle specific logic for me. A lot of people talk about “Prompt Engineering” like it’s a mystical dark art. It’s not. It’s just delegation.

If you hired a human intern and said “write something cool,” they would fail. If you give them specific instructions, they succeed. Robots are the same.

Here are 2 specific prompts you can use this week to reclaim your sanity—plus a bonus trick to make them even more powerful.

1. The “Draft Zero” Builder (Product Descriptions)

The task that used to make me want to throw my laptop into the sea was writing product descriptions.

Most people get bad results from AI because they just say, “Write a description for a mug.” The AI panics. It writes generic fluff about “sipping your morning brew in style.”

The Logic: You need to separate the Data (the facts) from the Voice (the style).

Copy/Paste this prompt:

Role: You are a seasoned e-commerce copywriter and graphic designer with 30 years of experience helping quirky, independent brands thrive online. You specialize in writing engaging, benefit-driven product descriptions that reflect brand personality, build trust, improve SEO, and convert website visitors into loyal customers. 

The Product: A 12oz ceramic mug featuring a penguin wearing a yellow scarf. 

The Vibe: Cozy, whimsical, and pun-heavy.

The Rules:
- No corporate buzzwords (e.g., “premium,” “elevated,” “synergy”).
- Focus on the feeling of a rainy Sunday morning.
- End with a specific call to action.

Task: Write 3 different options: one short (1 sentence), one medium (3 bullets), and one story-driven (3 sentences).

Why this works: You aren’t asking the AI to be creative; you’re asking it to format your facts into a specific voice. The Role at the top is key—think of it as describing the person you’d want to hire for this job. Without it, you get generic copy. With it, you get copy from a “seasoned e-commerce copywriter” who knows how to sell. It gives you something to edit rather than a blank page to fear.

2. The “Tone Translator” (Difficult Emails)

I love my customers. But when someone emails me at 11 PM on a Saturday demanding a refund for an item they broke?

My internal monologue is... not polite.

If I reply immediately, I might be too defensive. If I wait, I stress about it all day.

The Logic: Use AI as an emotional filter. You supply the raw facts (and the frustration); the AI supplies the diplomacy.

Copy/Paste this prompt:

Role: You are a customer service specialist with 15 years of experience helping small creative businesses. You write emails that are warm, professional, and solution-focused—never defensive or corporate.

Context: I am a small business owner. I need to reply to a customer who is angry that their order is late (it is stuck in transit, which is not my fault, but I want to be helpful).

My Draft (Do not send this): “Look, I shipped it Tuesday. Use the tracking link I already sent you. I can’t control the post office.”

Task: Rewrite my draft to be empathetic, professional, and firm.

Structure:
- Acknowledge their frustration (validate them).
- State the facts clearly (shipped on Tuesday).
- Offer a solution (I will call the carrier on Monday if it doesn’t move).

Tone: Helpful friend, not a faceless corporation.

Why this works: It removes the emotional labor. You get to vent in the “Draft,” and the customer gets the “Polite” version.

Bonus: The “Brand Brain” Snippet (Stop Re-Explaining Yourself)

Here’s something that used to drive me crazy: every time I asked AI to write something, I had to re-explain my brand voice from scratch.

“Be warm but not cheesy. Whimsical but not childish. Friendly but professional.”

By the fifth product description, I wanted to scream.

The Logic: Create a reusable snippet—a tiny block of instructions that captures how your brand sounds—and paste it at the top of every request. Think of it as giving AI a cheat sheet about your business.

Here’s a starter template you can customize:

ROLE:
You are a copywriter who specializes in [your niche: handmade goods / vintage items / digital products / etc.]. You write descriptions that are [2-3 adjectives that describe your brand voice: warm, playful, straightforward, etc.] and focus on how products make customers feel, not just what they are.

AVOID:
- Corporate buzzwords (”premium,” “elevated,” “curated”)
- Pushy sales language (”Act now!” “Don’t miss out!”)
- Generic phrases that could describe any product
- Overly formal or stiff tone

ALWAYS:
- Sound like a real person, not a marketing department
- Lead with benefits (how it feels) before features (what it is)
- Match the tone to [your brand name]’s personality

TASK:
[Paste your specific request here]

How to use it:

1. Customize the template once with your brand’s personality

2. Save it somewhere easy to grab (a note on your phone, a text file on your desktop)

3. Paste it at the top of any AI request

4. Add your specific task at the bottom

That’s it. Now every product description and email draft starts from the same foundation. No more re-explaining. No more inconsistent voice.

Why this works: You’re not asking AI to guess your brand every time. You’re handing it the answer key upfront. The result? Copy that actually sounds like you wrote it.

This is just the basic version. There’s more you can add—tone sliders, anti-personas, platform-specific rules. I’ll do a deep-dive on the full system in Friday’s paid subscriber post.

Why Start Here?

These aren’t complex Python scripts. They aren’t the “Penguin Facts Bot” that runs while I sleep (we’ll get to that later).

They are sanity savers.

They prove that you don’t need a computer science degree to get some of your time back. You just need to know how to ask.

Coming Up Friday: The Blueprint

These prompts are the “Quick Wins.” But let’s be honest: Copying and pasting prompts is still manual work.

If you’re ready to build a system that runs without you copying and pasting, keep an eye on your inbox this Friday.

I’m releasing a Paid subscriber exclusive: Your First Automation System: The Blueprint. Upgrade to paid subscriber

I’m going to walk you through the exact step-by-step workflow I wish I had on day one. No theory. No fluff. Just the raw “how-to” to turn these prompts into an automated workflow.

Tell me in the comments: Have you tried using AI for customer emails or product descriptions? What worked (or hilariously failed)—or share the task you dread most in your business.

See you there.

— Ann

The Automated Creative is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I love penguins. Like, a lot. I had this vision of my retirement: sketching in a sunlit room, sipping tea, and “spreading joy, one waddle at a time.”

But six months in? There was very little sketching. And honestly? There wasn’t much joy, either.

Instead, I was a professional copy-paster. I was a full-time logistics manager. I was a social media intern for my own company. I spent my days renaming files “design_final_v3_REAL_FINAL.png” and frantically trying to come up with witty Instagram captions at 11 PM.

I felt like a cave person trying to start a fire with two wet sticks, except the sticks were Shopify and Instagram, and the fire was my sanity.

I knew I had to change something, or I was going to have to close the shop. That’s when I turned to automation.

The Truth About My “Tech Skills”

I want to be transparent with you: I am a coder. Or at least, I used to be.

But here’s the thing—things have changed a lot since I was routinely writing code.

When I looked at how modern businesses run—Python scripts, APIs, webhooks, connecting LLMs to local databases—it was all pretty new to me. I didn’t want to spend my retirement taking a bootcamp course just to sell t-shirts.

So, I cheated. (Sort of.)

I used AI to bridge the gap. Almost all the coding I do now, I used AI to help me write. I didn’t have to master the syntax of a new language; I just had to know what logic I wanted, and the AI helped me put it together quickly.

This is the secret weapon: You don’t need to be a computer science professor to build these systems anymore. You just need to be curious.

The 10-Hour Social Media Year

One of the biggest reasons I needed this “cheat code” was social media.

I knew social media was a “must-have.” I knew that if I wanted Waddles of Joy to be successful, I needed to be where the people are.

But I was bad at it. I could never figure out what to write or how to say it. And frankly, there is only so much of me to go around.

I looked at my time tracking for last year to see exactly how much effort I was putting in. The number shocked me.

10 hours.

That’s not 10 hours a week. That’s not even 10 hours a month. That was 10 hours in the entire year.

I was so paralyzed by the “what” and the “how” that I just... didn’t do it.

Now? My bots handle the consistency for me. They post penguin facts and product highlights three times a week across Instagram, Facebook, and BlueSky.

I don’t have to wake up and think “What do I post?” The system already decided—prioritizing my new items first, then sales, then old favorites.

I’ll be honest again: Do I have a million followers? No. Is my engagement breaking the internet? Not yet.

But the thing is, I’m out there. I’m building a target audience while I sleep. And doing something consistently—even if it’s automated—is infinitely better than the zero hours of effort I was managing before.

The Myth of the “Lazy” Creative

Fair warning: When you tell people you use AI to write product descriptions or automate your social media posts, someone will inevitably call it “lazy.”

They’ll say, “But isn’t the personal touch what makes a small business special?”

Yes. It is. But you know what’s not personal?

• Manually emailing a customer to say “Your order shipped.”

• Typing out the dimensions of a coffee mug for the 50th time.

• Trying to remember if you posted to Facebook today (and then realizing you haven’t posted since March).

By doing all of that manually, I wasn’t being “personal.” I was being exhausted. And an exhausted business owner is a bad business owner.

How Automation Saved the Penguins

I decided to run an experiment. I stopped trying to be a “hustler” and started trying to be a systems architect.

I built a simple system—I call it the Penguin Facts Bot—that finds a cute penguin fact, finds a matching public domain image, creates a branded graphic, and posts it for me.

It runs while I sleep. It runs while I draw. It runs while I’m enjoying my retirement.

Suddenly, I had five hours of my week back. Then I automated my product descriptions. Then my customer service emails.

And the weirdest thing happened: I became more creative.

Because I wasn’t drowning in admin work, I had the brain space to design the next collection. I had the energy to write actual newsletters (like this one) instead of just posting “Buy my stuff!” out of desperation.

What We’re Doing Here

I’m starting The Automated Creative because I want to show you exactly how I did it.

Whether you’ve never written a line of code in your life, or you’re like me—someone with technical experience who just needs a little help navigating the new tools—this publication is for you.

Each week, I’m going to open up the hood of my business and show you a specific system I use. I’ll show you the messy parts, the mistakes I made (I’ve definitely accidentally emailed the wrong person before), and the exact prompts and workflows that actually worked.

We’re going to cover:

• How to build a “second brain” for your content.

• The exact prompts I use to write SEO-friendly listings.

• How to set up “bots” that handle your social media grunt work.

Your First Assignment

If you’re ready to stop doing the robot’s job and get back to being the artist, you’re in the right place.

I’m building this plane while I fly it, and I’d love for you to come along.

Tell me in the comments: What is the one repetitive task in your business that makes you want to throw your laptop into the sea?

Let’s see if we can automate it.

Subscribe now

Know another shop owner who is drowning in admin work? Share this post with them.

This publication is where I share everything I’m building:

• Real automations

• Real prompts

• Real workflows

• Real experiments and results

If you’re a creative entrepreneur wanting to automate your social media, product descriptions, marketing tasks, customer communication, or administrative work—you’re in the right place.

And you don’t need a background in tech.

Everything here is beginner-friendly, practical, and rooted in real business use—not theory.

My goal is simple: help you reclaim hours every week, grow your creative business faster, and spend more time doing the parts of your work you actually enjoy.

Subscribe for weekly behind-the-scenes updates, system breakdowns, and step-by-step guides you can apply immediately.

✨ Work smarter. Create more. Automate everything you can.

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