📖 AI Marketing Playbook: Better Copies Written with Constraints

Goal: Generate 5 ad variants under extreme constraints, then identify which limitation produced the strongest hook.
Time: 10 minutes.
Difficulty: ⭐⭐ Moderate (requires creative flexibility)
Outcome: A proven framework for breaking through creative blocks + fresh copy angles.

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Here's the challenge: AI writes fast, but speed doesn't equal memorability. Most prompts produce vanilla copy because they optimize for clarity, not tension. Today, you're flipping the script. You'll force Claude into five creative constraints that eliminate clichés, ban adjectives, and weaponize awkwardness. Each constraint reveals a different psychological trigger. Your job? Test them all, then steal the principles that work.

Pick any product or service you're marketing (real or hypothetical). For this example, I'll use: "A project management tool for remote teams."

Step 2: Run the Breakdown Prompt
Copy-paste this into Claude, replacing the bracketed text with your product:

I'm marketing [your product/service]. Generate 5 different ad headlines, each following a strict constraint:

1. No adjectives allowed: Only verbs and nouns.

2. One-syllable words only: Maximum clarity through simplicity.

3. Must include a question: Engage through curiosity.

4. Use only sensory language: Appeal to sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.

5. Start with a number: Anchor with specificity.

For each, explain which psychological principle it activates.

What to expect: Five wildly different headlines that each reveal a distinct persuasion mechanism.

Step 3: Pressure-Test the Winners

Pick the two strongest headlines from your results. Now run this follow-up:

Take headline [paste your favorite] and create 3 variations:

- One for a skeptical audience.

- One for an enthusiastic audience.

- One for a time-pressed audience.

Keep the same constraint, but shift the emotional angle.

What to expect: You'll see how the same structural constraint adapts across different reader mindsets.

Step 4: Extract Your Reusable Framework

Ask Claude: Based on the constraint that produced the strongest results, give me a 3-step framework I can use for future copy projects, no matter the product.

What to expect: A transferable template you can apply to emails, landing pages, or social ads.

Step 5: Test in the Wild (Optional)

Take your top variant and plug it into your actual marketing channel. If you're running ads, split-test them against your control. If you're writing emails, use it as a subject line: track open rates, clicks, or engagement.

What you're measuring: Does artificial constraint produce real-world performance?

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Here's why constraints beat creative freedom: Your brain craves novelty, but defaults to patterns. When you remove familiar words (like "innovative" or "easy"), you force lateral thinking.

Claude's language model doesn't just fill in blanks; it explores semantic adjacency. By narrowing the vocabulary, you widen the conceptual range. The result? Copy that sounds human because it had to fight for every word.

Constraint #4 (sensory language) works particularly well because most B2B copy lives in abstraction.

The moment you shift to "hear," "see," or "feel," you activate mental simulation; the reader experiences your product before clicking.

The principle: Limitation reveals differentiation. When everyone has access to infinite word choice, the sharpest brands win by choosing fewer words, better. Next time you're stuck on copy, don't ask "What can I add?" Ask: "What can I remove and still make the idea stronger?" Memorability lives in tension, not decoration.

The Anti-Jargon Challenge

Rewrite this headline without using any industry buzzwords: [paste your jargon-heavy headline]

The Single-Emotion Drill

Generate 5 CTAs that each evoke only ONE emotion: curiosity, urgency, relief, pride, or fear.

The Speed-Read Test

Rewrite this paragraph so it's comprehensible in under 3 seconds. Remove all complexity.

The Format Flip

Turn this feature list into a story with a protagonist, conflict, and resolution, in 50 words.

Challenge Within the Challenge

Here's the meta-twist: After running all five constraints, combine two of them in a single prompt.

Example: "Write a headline using only one-syllable words AND sensory language."

What happens when you layer limitations? Does the copy get sharper, or collapse under the weight? Test it. This is where you discover whether constraints compound or cancel.

Most marketers treat copy like a blank canvas. But constraints aren't restrictions, they're discovery tools. Today's experiment proved that strategic limitation doesn't just spark creativity; it reveals the mechanical truth beneath persuasion.

When you strip away the easy words, you're left with the hard work: specificity, emotion, and tension. That's the copy people remember on Monday.

Questions? Just write a comment below. I read all the comments and respond to them.