ChatGPT Prompts for Small Business Marketing: 30 to Copy

ChatGPT for small business marketing is only as good as the brief you give it. A prompt like "write a post for my business" returns text that fits any business in the world. A prompt that says who you are, who you sell to and what the post must achieve returns a draft you can publish after a few edits.

Below are 30 prompts to copy, grouped by task: social posts, ads, landing pages, research, reviews and customer messages, and planning. They all work in Claude and Gemini too, and at the top there is one standing brief that improves every one of them. Replace the parts in square brackets with your own details.

How to write a marketing prompt that works

A good marketing prompt has seven parts. You don't need all of them every time, but the more you include, the fewer rounds of edits you need. These principles, clear instructions, a role, examples and a defined format, are also what the model makers recommend, for example in Anthropic's prompting best practices.

A standing brief about your business

Write this once, fill it in and paste it at the start of every chat. In ChatGPT and Claude you can also save it as custom instructions or in a project, and Gemini has a similar saved-info setting.

I'm [name], owner of [business] in [town/area]. We [what the business does, in one sentence]. Our customers are [who, age, what worries them]. What makes us different: [2 or 3 true things]. Prices: [range or starting price]. Tone: [for example warm and expert, "we" not "I"]. Never write: [promises, words, topics]. Use [U.S./UK] English, short sentences, plain words, no clichés like "elevate" or "in today's fast-paced world". If you're missing information, ask me before you write.

The last sentence matters most: it makes the tool ask instead of invent.

Prompts for social media posts

1. "Using the brief, give me 12 post ideas for next month: 4 that build trust, 3 that answer common questions, 3 behind the scenes and 2 with an offer. For each, a title and one sentence explaining it."
2. "Write an Instagram post about [topic]. A first line that stops the scroll, under 80 words, ending with an invitation to message us on WhatsApp. Give 3 versions in different tones."
3. "Turn this post into a 6-slide carousel. For each slide: a headline of up to 6 words and one sentence. Last slide: what to do now. [paste post]"
4. "Write a 30-second Reel script about [topic]. A hook in the first 3 seconds, then 3 short points, and a call to action. Describe what's on screen in each shot."
5. "Here are 3 of my posts customers loved: [paste]. Analyze what they share in tone and structure, then write a new post about [topic] in the same style."
6. "Write 5 versions of a Story caption announcing [offer/event], each under 15 words."

Image ideas for these posts, and how to keep them on-brand, are in AI social media post generators.

Prompts for ads and headlines

7. "Write 5 primary texts for a Facebook and Instagram ad about [offer]. Each starts with the customer's problem, not our name. Under 40 words."
8. "Write 15 Google search ad headlines for [service] in [town]. Each must be 30 characters or fewer including spaces. Count the characters and show the number next to each."
9. "Write 4 Google search ad descriptions, each 90 characters or fewer including spaces, with a concrete benefit and a call to action."
10. "Here's the ad I'm running now: [paste]. Write 4 variations, each testing a different angle: price, speed, trust, result."
11. "Write 3 short UGC-style video ad scripts, as if a customer is talking to her phone about the experience. Mark them clearly as scripts for an actor or for a real customer who agreed to read them, not as real testimonials."
12. "Check this ad copy against the brief: does it promise anything I can't deliver, use clichés or have sentences that are too long? Fix it and explain each change. [paste]"

The limits in prompts 8 and 9 come from Google: a responsive search ad takes up to 15 headlines of 30 characters and up to 4 descriptions of 90 characters. Language models don't always count characters correctly, so check before you upload. On prompt 11: a script read by an actor must never be presented as a real customer's review; the line is explained in AI UGC ads.

Prompts for landing pages

13. "Write a landing page structure for [offer]: headline, subheadline, 3 benefits, how it works in 3 steps, FAQs and a call to action. Give 3 options for the main headline."
14. "Write 6 FAQs and answers for the landing page, based on the objections customers actually raise: [price, time, trust, location]. Answers of 2 to 3 sentences."
15. "Here's my landing page copy: [paste]. Read it as a skeptical customer arriving from a Facebook ad. What's unclear, what's missing before you'd get in touch, and what would you cut?"
16. "Write the button text and the line above it, 5 versions, for the goal of [leaving details/messaging us on WhatsApp/booking]."

Prompts for competitor and customer research

17. "I'm pasting copy from the websites and ads of 3 competitors: [paste]. Summarize in a table what each promises, who it targets and the price if shown. Then suggest 3 angles none of them uses."
18. "List 20 questions customers of a [type of business] in [country] ask before buying, grouped by stage: curious, comparing, deciding."
19. "Describe 3 typical customer types for the business in the brief: what worries each, what they search on Google and what would persuade them to get in touch. Mark what's an assumption and what's based on what I told you."
20. "Here are 10 customer reviews of my business: [paste, no names]. Find the words they use to describe the problem and the result, and give me 5 headlines using their language."
21. "Build a content calendar for [month] around the holidays and shopping dates relevant to a [type of business] in [U.S./UK], including when to start posting before each date."

A chat tool doesn't really know what your competitors advertise today. In prompt 17 you supply the material and it analyzes it. Don't trust names or numbers it produces on its own. For prompt 21, check every date it gives you against the verified 2027 social media content calendar.

Prompts for reviews, WhatsApp and customer messages

22. "Write a reply to this positive Google review: [paste]. Short, personal, not repeating what the customer wrote, with an invitation to come back."
23. "Write a reply to this negative review: [paste]. Respectful, not defensive, admitting what's true, offering to continue privately, revealing nothing about the customer. 3 versions."
24. "Write a WhatsApp Business greeting message, an away message for when we're closed, and 5 quick replies to our most common questions: [list]."
25. "Write a marketing email to customers who opted in to updates, about [offer]. Under 120 words, a subject line that matches the content, and a clear unsubscribe line."
26. "Write a polite follow-up to a customer who received a quote a week ago and hasn't replied. No pressure, one simple question."

Prompt 25 is written for people who already opted in. In the U.S., CAN-SPAM requires honest subject lines, a physical address and an opt-out you honor within 10 business days; in the UK, PECR generally requires consent for marketing emails, with a limited exception for existing customers. WhatsApp has its own opt-in rules, covered in WhatsApp marketing for small business.

Prompts for planning and measurement

27. "Help me build a marketing plan for next month with an ad budget of [amount]. Ask me 5 questions about the business first, and only then suggest a plan."
28. "Here are last week's campaign numbers: [paste table from Ads Manager]. Explain in plain words what's working, what isn't, and the one next step you'd take. Don't invent figures that aren't in the table."
29. "Write 5 short questions to ask new customers, to learn how they found us and what convinced them."
30. "Summarize this conversation into a half-page brief I can paste into my next chat."

ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini: which to use

All three write good marketing English and every prompt here works in each. The differences change with every new model, so rather than naming a winner, test it: run prompt 2 in two of them with the same brief and keep the one whose text needs fewer edits.

A few practical differences that are easy to check: Gemini connects to Google services such as Gmail and Drive; ChatGPT and Claude let you save standing instructions and organize work in projects; and OpenAI shows ads to Free and Go users in the U.S. Prices and plan features are compared in AI marketing tools for small business.

Limits: facts, claims, testimonials and privacy

• Facts. Every number, price, date or "study" the chat writes needs checking. Ask it to mark assumptions, and don't publish a figure you haven't found at its source.
• Claims. Health, legal and financial services have strict advertising rules. Add "no promised results" to your constraints.
• Testimonials. Never publish an AI-written review or testimonial as if a real customer wrote it. In the U.S. the FTC's rule on fake reviews covers AI-generated ones, and the UK banned fake reviews from April 2025.
• Privacy. Don't paste identifying customer details. Replace them with "a customer in her 40s from Leeds".
• Other people's style. Don't ask for copy "in the style of" a known brand, and don't feed in a competitor's text to rewrite.

This is general information, not legal advice.

When to move from prompts to an agent

Prompts save time on writing. They don't save the rest: designing, uploading, scheduling, setting up a campaign, checking results and fixing what's weak. If you find yourself copying text from a chat into five different places every week, that's the sign.

A marketing agent takes the same brief and also does the work. With PowerAds, for example, you write in WhatsApp or the web chat what you need, get a plan with cost and timing, and after you approve, the agent creates the content, designs, videos and campaigns, and publishes them. Anything that costs money waits for your approval. The difference between a chat tool and an agent is explained in what an AI marketing agent is.