This tiny AI prompt will fix your YouTube hooks

Repeat after me:

“My channel needs an audience avatar.”

“Audience avatars are not boring.”

“This is my favourite newsletter and also I love having an audience avatar.”

Remember, this week's advice won't work unless you actually say all this stuff. Out loud.  👀

Ok, let's rewind...

Recently, ​we discussed​ the "level of detail" in your scripts, and how important it is to identify whether your audience wants to learn, or simply to be inspired.

This week, we’re taking this topic to its extreme in pursuit of YouTube scripting stardom ⭐️

Because deciding on the “level of detail” is only the start.

And only when you focus on your entire audience avatar will your videos become truly engaging to the right people, to keep them coming back each time you upload.

So, this week:

1. I’ll show you how ChatGPT can help you re-write your hooks so they speak directly to your audience avatar.
2. I’ll give you my free audience avatar template, designed specifically for YouTubers, so you can create one for your channel in under 10 minutes.

Context

This is my audience avatar template (which I’ll give you for free at the end of this newsletter 😇)

It contains a bunch of questions that help us better understand who our audience is and what they want.

For this experiment, I filled it in twice and deliberately made each “avatar” completely different.

Arbitrarily, I imagined I was running a fitness channel, so I gave these avatars goals that related to the “fitness” niche.

• 💼 “Gwen” is career-focused and struggling to fit exercise into a busy work/home life.
• ✨ “Alex” is a bit more bohemian and struggles to balance sport with spontaneity.

Both avatars have a similar goal… but they are dissimilar in almost every other way.

Their personalities, the obstacles they face, the language they respond to, whether they’re logic or emotion-led… all very different.

And this is why having an audience avatar is so critical.

Your viewers might have the same goals as your competitor’s viewers…

But until you learn to talk to your audience using language they truly respond to, you’ll never properly engage them.

The Experiment (steal these prompts!)

First off, I screenshotted both avatars and fed the images to ChatGPT with the following prompt:

I’ve created an audience avatar for my YouTube channel on Notion. If I send you a screenshot of it, could you identify the textual information and simply write out the same information inside this thread? Don’t alter any of the information I provide.

If you don’t have GPT4 (which recognises text within images), you can simply type out the avatar information, one sub-heading at a time.

Once it had recognised the text, I followed up with:

I’ve also created an alternate audience avatar for my YouTube channel on Notion. If I screenshot that, could you repeat the process (identify the textual information and write it out inside this thread)?

ChatGPT had now logged the information about both avatars.

Next I gave it this prompt:

If I provide a "hook" - that is, the opening paragraph - of a YouTube video I'm going to write, could you adapt and re-write the hook twice? Once so it appeals directly to the information I’ve provided about [Gwen], and a second time so it appeals directly to the information I’ve provided about [Alex]?

Then, I wrote a generic hook relating to the “fitness niche”, using the “target, transformation, stakes” formula I’ve ​spoken about before​:

We all want to be healthier, but our busy lifestyles constantly stand in the way. At least, that's what we tell ourselves. In reality, there's just one thing preventing us from meeting our fitness goals... but it's not what you think. In this video, I'm going to reveal what it is, how it affects you, and the simple way to overcome it so you can get fitter and live longer.

Finally, I sent it my generic hook for an avatar-centric AI makeover…

Results

Granted, it’s far from perfect.

I’m no ChatGPT master, so I’d love the AI wunderkinds among you to suggest a more precise prompt that could have rooted out some of the dumb stuff (”Let’s face it, Alex!”).

But the contrast between these hooks is massive. Even at a glance, you can see differences in:

• Language
• Tone & delivery
• Stakes
• Obstacles to overcome

With a little effort, I edited the hooks:

Gwen

Balancing a fast-paced career and family life can easily cause our own health habits to slip. But what if I told you it’s not time, but something else that stands between you and your fitness goals? Today, I’ll unveil the real problem that's holding you back, and the practical, time-efficient strategy to overcome it, so you can live a long, healthy life without sacrificing time with your family or impacting your career.

Alex

'Being healthy' sounds easy in practice. But for those of us with a spontaneous lifestyle, finding time to work out and eat well doesn’t always happen. But what if I told you that your fitness goals don't have to clash with your free-and-easy approach to life? Because, in this video, I'll expose the one myth that's preventing you from staying fit, and the simple yet radical approach that’ll help you overcome it in the next 7 days.

The point is...

If you want your videos to stand out, you need to know who you’re talking to.

Writing every script to a “generic” viewer will never generate an engaged audience.

Your viewers want to feel seen when they watch your videos.

So pinch my free template below, do some digging on your audience, and start addressing them in your next script.

Get the template!

And, remember, you can always feed ChatGPT the information.

Use the prompts above to help convert a super generic hook into something tailored for your audience.

That's all for this week!

Speak soon,George 👋

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