Broad Prompting: The Art of Expansive AI Conversations
Ever noticed how asking AI "Anything else I should know?" often yields the most valuable insights? That's broad prompting in action—and it's about to revolutionize how you interact with AI. While most users get stuck with narrow, limited responses, you're about to learn how to unlock AI's full potential through strategic expansion techniques.
"The best insights often come not from the answer you sought, but from the questions you didn't know to ask."
Table of Contents
- What is Broad Prompting?
- The Psychology Behind Broad Prompting
- The BROAD Framework
- Essential Broad Prompting Techniques
- Power Phrases That Unlock AI's Full Potential
- Advanced Expansion Strategies
- Real-World Applications
- Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
- Combining Broad Prompting with Other Techniques
- Practice Exercises
- Mastery Checklist
What is Broad Prompting?
Broad prompting is the practice of encouraging AI to think beyond the immediate question, exploring related concepts, potential issues, and hidden opportunities. It's the difference between getting a recipe and understanding culinary principles.
Narrow vs. Broad: A Tale of Two Approaches
Narrow Approach:
User: How do I increase website traffic?
AI: Use SEO, content marketing, and social media promotion.
Broad Approach:
User: How do I increase website traffic? What else should I consider beyond the obvious strategies?
AI: Beyond SEO and marketing, consider:
- User experience improvements that increase sharing
- Strategic partnerships with complementary businesses
- Community building that creates organic ambassadors
- Technical optimizations affecting discoverability
- Potential traffic quality vs. quantity trade-offs
- Industry-specific platforms you might be overlooking
- Seasonal patterns affecting your strategy timing
- Budget allocation across channels for maximum ROI
See the difference? Broad prompting transforms a checklist into a comprehensive strategy.
The Hidden Power of "What Else?"
These two simple words—"what else?"—are perhaps the most underutilized tool in prompt engineering. They signal to AI that you want:
- Completeness over quick answers
- Depth over surface-level responses
- Context over isolated facts
- Possibilities over certainties
The Psychology Behind Broad Prompting
Understanding why broad prompting works helps you use it more effectively.
How AI Models Process Broad Prompts
When you ask expansive questions, you activate different response patterns in AI:
- Pattern Recognition Expansion: AI searches wider knowledge connections
- Context Integration: Multiple domains get considered simultaneously
- Uncertainty Exploration: AI ventures beyond high-confidence responses
- Creative Activation: Less common associations become accessible
The Cognitive Expansion Effect
Broad prompting mirrors how human experts think:
- Novices answer direct questions directly
- Experts automatically consider context, implications, and alternatives
By using broad prompts, you're essentially asking AI to think like an expert rather than a search engine.
The BROAD Framework
Master broad prompting with this systematic approach:
B - Broaden the Scope
Start with your core question, then explicitly ask for wider perspectives:
I need to hire a developer for my startup. What should I look for?
Now broaden this—what factors beyond technical skills should I consider? What do most founders overlook when making their first technical hire?
R - Relate to Adjacent Areas
Connect your question to related domains:
I'm designing a mobile app for seniors. What accessibility features are essential?
Also, relate this to other fields—what can we learn from medical device design, large-button phones, or physical products designed for arthritis sufferers?
O - Observe Hidden Assumptions
Challenge the premises behind your question:
How can I motivate my remote team better?
But first, let's observe the assumptions here—am I sure motivation is the issue? What else could explain the symptoms I'm seeing? What if the problem isn't motivation at all?
A - Analyze Multiple Angles
Force consideration of different stakeholder perspectives:
Should we launch this new feature?
Analyze this from multiple angles:
- Customer perspective (early adopters vs. mainstream users)
- Technical debt perspective
- Competitor response perspective
- Support team perspective
- Financial impact perspective
D - Deepen with Follow-ups
Use recursive questioning to go deeper:
What marketing channels work best for B2B SaaS?
Deeper: Why do these channels work? What makes them effective for this specific model?
Even deeper: What fundamental human behaviors or business dynamics make these channels successful? How might this change in the next 5 years?
Essential Broad Prompting Techniques
Technique 1: The Expansion Cascade
Start narrow, then systematically broaden:
Level 1: How do I write better emails?
Level 2: What else affects email effectiveness beyond writing?
Level 3: What workplace communication issues might better emails not solve?
Level 4: What's the bigger picture of organizational communication I should understand?
Technique 2: The Devil's Advocate Plus
Don't just ask for alternatives—ask for contrarian views:
I'm planning to use this marketing strategy: [details]
Play devil's advocate—but also tell me:
- What successful companies did the opposite and why
- What conditions would make my strategy fail
- What hybrid approaches might capture the best of both worlds
Technique 3: The Dimension Explorer
Explore your topic across multiple dimensions:
I want to improve customer retention.
Explore this across dimensions:
- Time: Short-term vs. long-term retention strategies
- Scale: What works at 100 vs. 10,000 customers
- Industry: How retention differs across sectors
- Geography: Cultural factors affecting retention
- Technology: Traditional vs. digital-native approaches
Technique 4: The Edge Case Hunter
Specifically request edge cases and exceptions:
Explain how to do customer research for a new product.
But also cover:
- Edge cases where traditional research fails
- Unique situations requiring different approaches
- Common exceptions to best practices
- When NOT to do customer research
Technique 5: The Future-Proofer
Always ask about evolution and change:
What's the best tech stack for my web app?
Also consider:
- How might this recommendation change in 2 years?
- What emerging technologies could disrupt this choice?
- What would trigger a need to migrate?
- How can I build in flexibility for unknown future needs?
Power Phrases That Unlock AI's Full Potential
These magic phrases consistently generate more comprehensive responses:
The Magnificent Seven
-
"What am I not asking that I should be?"
- Reveals blind spots in your thinking
-
"What would an expert notice that I might miss?"
- Taps into professional-level insights
-
"What are the second and third-order effects?"
- Uncovers downstream consequences
-
"What's the contrarian view on this?"
- Challenges conventional wisdom
-
"What context am I missing?"
- Fills in crucial background information
-
"What would make this advice wrong?"
- Identifies limitations and exceptions
-
"What questions should I be asking instead?"
- Reframes the entire problem
Combination Phrases for Maximum Impact
"Beyond the obvious solutions, what creative approaches might work? What would someone from a completely different industry try? And what am I missing about why the obvious solutions exist in the first place?"
The Meta-Broad Prompt
"I want the most comprehensive answer possible. Include:
- Direct solutions
- Alternative approaches
- Common misconceptions
- Edge cases
- Related considerations I haven't thought of
- Potential pitfalls
- How experts think differently about this
- What questions I should ask next"
Advanced Expansion Strategies
Strategy 1: The Onion Peel Method
Systematically peel back layers of understanding:
Layer 1: "How do I improve my public speaking?"
Layer 2: "What psychological factors affect speaker confidence?"
Layer 3: "How does audience perception actually form during presentations?"
Layer 4: "What neuroscience insights could transform how I approach speaking?"
Layer 5: "What do master speakers understand about human nature that others don't?"
Strategy 2: The Cross-Domain Pollinator
Explicitly request insights from other fields:
"I'm trying to reduce customer churn for my software company.
What can I learn from:
- How gyms reduce member churn
- How streaming services maintain subscribers
- How religions maintain congregations
- How games keep players engaged
- How communities prevent member exodus
What universal principles emerge?"
Strategy 3: The Time Machine Technique
Explore temporal dimensions:
"I need a content marketing strategy.
But let's think temporally:
- What worked 5 years ago that doesn't now?
- What's working now that won't in 2 years?
- What timeless principles transcend tactics?
- What early signals suggest future trends?
- How do I build a strategy that evolves?"
Strategy 4: The Systems Thinker
Request systems-level analysis:
"How do I increase sales?
But think systemically:
- What other parts of the business will be affected?
- What feedback loops might this create?
- Where might unintended consequences emerge?
- How does this connect to other business systems?
- What's the whole system optimization, not just sales?"
Strategy 5: The Scenario Matrix
Explore multiple futures:
"Should I expand my business internationally?
Create a scenario matrix:
- Best case expansion scenario
- Worst case expansion scenario
- Most likely expansion scenario
- Surprising success scenario
- Unexpected pivot scenario
For each: What would I need to believe for this to happen?"
Real-World Applications
Business Strategy Broad Prompting
Basic Question:
How should I price my new product?
Broad Prompt Enhancement:
How should I price my new product?
But also help me understand:
- Pricing psychology I should consider
- How pricing affects brand perception
- Common pricing mistakes in my industry
- How to test pricing without losing customers
- What pricing signals to competitors
- When pricing strategy should evolve
- What I'm revealing about my business model through pricing
- Alternative monetization models I haven't considered
Creative Project Broad Prompting
Basic Question:
I need ideas for a sci-fi novel.
Broad Prompt Enhancement:
I need ideas for a sci-fi novel.
But go deeper:
- What sci-fi subgenres are underexplored?
- What current technological/social trends could spark unique stories?
- What classic sci-fi tropes could be meaningfully subverted?
- What non-Western sci-fi traditions could I draw from?
- What makes sci-fi meaningful beyond just technology?
- What personal themes could elevate generic concepts?
- What would make my sci-fi novel necessary in today's world?
Problem-Solving Broad Prompting
Basic Question:
My team has communication issues.
Broad Prompt Enhancement:
My team has communication issues.
Let's explore comprehensively:
- What patterns suggest communication vs. other problems?
- What organizational structures might contribute?
- What unspoken cultural factors could be at play?
- What's the difference between symptoms and root causes here?
- What successful teams do differently in similar situations?
- What small experiments could diagnose the real issues?
- What if improving communication makes things worse initially?
- What am I not seeing as the leader?
Learning Broad Prompting
Basic Question:
How do I learn Python programming?
Broad Prompt Enhancement:
How do I learn Python programming?
But think holistically:
- What programming concepts transcend Python?
- What type of learner am I and how does that affect approach?
- What projects would accelerate real understanding?
- What mistakes do self-taught programmers commonly make?
- What mental models separate beginners from professionals?
- When is Python the wrong choice?
- What adjacent skills multiply Python's value?
- How do I know when I've learned "enough"?
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
Pitfall 1: The Scope Explosion
Problem: Making prompts so broad they become unfocused Solution: Use structured frameworks to maintain coherence
❌ Wrong:
Tell me everything about marketing and sales and customer service and product development and team building...
✅ Right:
I'm focusing on marketing, but what critical connections to sales and product development should I understand?
Pitfall 2: The Shallow Spread
Problem: Getting surface-level information about many things Solution: Go broad then deep on key areas
First, give me a broad overview of customer acquisition channels.
[After response]
Now let's go deep on the 2 most promising channels for my specific context...
Pitfall 3: The Analysis Paralysis Trigger
Problem: Getting so many options you can't decide Solution: Ask for prioritization and decision criteria
Give me comprehensive options, but also:
- Rank them by likelihood of success
- Provide clear criteria for choosing
- Suggest which to test first and why
Pitfall 4: The Context Overload
Problem: Providing so much context the core question gets lost Solution: Layer context strategically
Core question: How do I improve team productivity?
Layer 1: We're a remote team of 12
Layer 2: In the SaaS industry
Layer 3: With these specific challenges...
Now, what comprehensive solutions should I consider?
Pitfall 5: The Relevance Drift
Problem: Broad responses that stray from practical needs Solution: Include relevance anchors
Explore this topic broadly, but keep tying insights back to:
- My specific situation
- Actionable next steps
- What I can realistically implement
Combining Broad Prompting with Other Techniques
Broad + Chain-of-Thought
Walk me through solving this problem step-by-step, but at each step, also consider:
- Alternative approaches at this stage
- What could go wrong
- Related factors affecting this step
Broad + Role-Based
As a [expert role], provide comprehensive advice on [topic].
Include not just what you'd recommend, but also:
- What other experts might disagree with
- What novices misunderstand
- What adjacent expertise would complement yours
Broad + Meta-Prompting
Create a prompt that would get the most comprehensive possible answer about [topic].
Then use that prompt to actually answer the question.
Then tell me what the prompt might still be missing.
Broad + Iterative Refinement
Round 1: Give me a broad overview of [topic]
Round 2: What important aspects did that overview miss?
Round 3: What would someone who disagrees add?
Round 4: What practical implications haven't we covered?
Round 5: What's the synthesis of all these perspectives?
Practice Exercises
Exercise 1: The Breadth Builder
Take a simple question and systematically broaden it:
Starter: "How do I get more Instagram followers?"
Your task: Rewrite this question 5 times, each time making it more comprehensive and insightful.
Exercise 2: The Edge Case Explorer
Pick a common piece of advice and explore when it doesn't apply:
Starter: "Always validate your business idea before building"
Your task: Use broad prompting to discover when this advice is wrong, harmful, or incomplete.
Exercise 3: The Cross-Domain Connector
Take a problem from one field and explore solutions from others:
Starter: "I need to improve employee retention"
Your task: Use broad prompting to gather insights from sports teams, military units, gaming guilds, and religious organizations.
Exercise 4: The Assumption Challenger
Question the question itself:
Starter: "What's the best programming language to learn?"
Your task: Use broad prompting to uncover all the assumptions in this question and explore whether it's even the right question.
Exercise 5: The Future Scenario Builder
Explore how advice might change over time:
Starter: "How should I invest my money?"
Your task: Use broad prompting to explore how this advice might differ based on various future scenarios.
Mastery Checklist
You've mastered broad prompting when you can:
- ✅ Instinctively expand narrow questions into comprehensive explorations
- ✅ Balance breadth with relevance to avoid information overload
- ✅ Use the BROAD framework naturally in your prompting
- ✅ Deploy power phrases strategically for maximum insight
- ✅ Recognize when broad prompting helps vs. hinders your goals
- ✅ Combine broad prompting with other techniques seamlessly
- ✅ Guide AI to explore while maintaining focus
- ✅ Extract actionable insights from comprehensive responses
- ✅ Teach others to think more expansively with AI
Your Next Steps
- Practice the Power Phrases: Start adding "What else?" and "What am I missing?" to your prompts
- Apply the BROAD Framework: Use it for your next complex problem
- Document Your Results: Track when broad prompting gives you breakthrough insights
- Share Your Discoveries: The best broad prompts often come from community wisdom
- Experiment Boldly: The frontier of AI interaction is still being explored
Remember: In a world of narrow questions and limited answers, your ability to think and prompt broadly is a superpower. While others get fragments, you'll get the full picture. While they solve surface problems, you'll address root causes. While they see trees, you'll understand the forest.
The question isn't just "What do I need to know?" but "What don't I know that I need to know?" Master broad prompting, and you'll never see AI the same way again.
Ready to expand your AI mastery even further? Check out our Meta Prompting Masterclass for advanced techniques where AI writes its own prompts, or explore our Advanced Prompt Engineering guide for more frameworks and strategies.
