IAB Australia's LLM Prompting Guide: A Practical Framework Marketers Can Use Today
IAB Australia's AI Working Group released a prompt engineering guide on November 19, 2025. It gives digital advertising teams a simple structure to brief large language models so you get consistent outputs across ad ops, media planning, creative, and analytics.
If LLMs feel inconsistent, the framework solves that. It standardizes how your team writes prompts, tests results, and documents what works.
The four-part prompt framework
- Context: Business background, constraints, audience, channels, tone, and available data.
- Role: The expert hat the model should wear (e.g., "programmatic media strategist" or "brand copywriter").
- Objective: The target outcome with measurable criteria.
- Task: The specific actions, format, word limits, and QA checks.
Prompt template you can copy:
Context: [Brand, product, audience, channel, compliance notes, available data]
Role: [Expert persona + seniority level]
Objective: [What "good" looks like + metrics or constraints]
Task: [Exact deliverable, structure, length, bullets, tone, QA checklist]
Examples for marketing teams
Programmatic / RTB
Context: Q4 push for subscriptions in AU; goal CPA $25; inventory via PMP + open exchange; brand-safe categories only.
Role: Senior programmatic strategist.
Objective: Improve win rate on high-intent segments without breaking CPA.
Task: Propose 5 bid/segment hypotheses with expected impact, signals used, and a test plan. Output a table with: Hypothesis, Change, Risk, KPI, Sample Size.
Creative testing
Context: 15s video + display set for prospecting; tone: concise, confident; target: SMB owners in retail.
Role: Performance copywriter.
Objective: Lift CTR by 15% vs control.
Task: Write 6 headlines, 3 descriptions, and 2 CTAs. Each with a rationale, predicted CTR impact, and variant tag (A-F).
Affiliate marketing
Context: Top-of-funnel content partners; compliance requires no discount claims without approval.
Role: Affiliate content editor.
Objective: Increase qualified clicks from review pages by 20%.
Task: Draft 3 comparison blurbs (80-100 words) with a neutral tone, benefit-led bullets, and a compliant disclaimer line.
Why prompts fail (and quick fixes)
- Vague context → Add audience, channel, constraints, and examples of "bad" outputs to avoid.
- No clear success metric → Define CTR, CPA, ROAS, brand lift, or readability targets.
- Single-shot asks → Use iterations: Draft → Critique → Revise with a QA checklist.
- Data leakage risk → Never paste PII, keys, or unapproved client data. Summarize or anonymize.
- No evaluation rubric → Add a scoring guide (e.g., 1-5 for clarity, compliance, on-brief).
Team rollout checklist
- Pick 3 high-impact use cases (e.g., RTB hypotheses, search ad variants, landing page briefs).
- Create one shared template using Context, Role, Objective, Task.
- Define a QA checklist for each use case (tone, claims, compliance, links, formatting).
- Set a review flow: Creator → Reviewer → Approver → Archive.
- Measure: Baseline vs LLM-assisted results (CTR, CPA, time saved, error rate).
- Build a prompt library with tags (channel, goal, audience) and version history.
Compliance and risk
- Keep PII and proprietary data out of prompts. Use summaries or sanitized samples.
- Add "Do not make factual claims about X without citation" to your QA checklist.
- Log generated copy and ad decisions for audits.
RTB and ad ops: fast wins
- Bid/segment hypothesis generator with predicted impact and risks.
- Pre-flight checks for brand safety, exclusion lists, and competitive conflicts.
- Creative-to-placement fit: Ask for format-specific variants (300x250 vs 728x90 vs short video).
Search and social: fast wins
- Keyword clustering by intent with suggested match types and negatives.
- RSA asset packs with tone shifts (direct, helpful, bold) and compliance-safe phrasing.
- Social hooks: 10 scroll-stoppers with first-line variants and character counts.
Analytics and reporting
- Ask for a test plan with sample size and minimal detectable effect.
- Have the model draft a results narrative: what changed, likely drivers, next steps.
- Standardize report outlines so outputs drop straight into decks.
How to measure the ROI of better prompts
- Effectiveness: CTR, CPA/ROAS, conversion rate, brand lift.
- Efficiency: time to first draft, time to approval, error rate, rework cycles.
- Adoption: template usage rate, library contributions, reviewer pass rate.
Where to find the guide
The guide is published by IAB Australia's AI Working Group and outlines the full framework for digital advertising stakeholders. You can learn more about IAB Australia here: IAB Australia.
Keep learning
If you want structured practice with prompts for marketing roles, explore these resources:
Copy-and-paste prompt starters
Creative QA
Context: [Campaign goal, audience, formats, compliance notes]
Role: Senior brand editor
Objective: Flag compliance risks and off-brief phrasing
Task: Review the copy below. List issues by severity, suggest fixes, and provide a final approved version.
Landing page brief
Context: [Offer, audience pain points, proof, tone]
Role: Conversion copywriter
Objective: Improve CVR by 10%
Task: Produce a brief with headline options, hero copy, 5 bullets, social proof placement, and a testing plan.
Affiliate blurb refresh
Context: [Product, partner guidelines, banned claims]
Role: Affiliate editor
Objective: Lift CTR without compliance violations
Task: Write 3 variants (90 words), include one-liner disclaimer, and add UTM suggestions.
Bottom line
Strong prompts come from structure, not inspiration. Use Context, Role, Objective, and Task. Document what works, measure it, and scale across the team.
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