Running a small business means being the marketing team, the support team, and the admin team all at once. ChatGPT can take the first draft off your plate for a lot of that — if you give it good prompts. Below are fifteen practical, copy-and-paste prompts for the jobs that eat your week. Fill in the brackets, and always give the draft a human edit before it goes out.
How to get the most from these
Two quick rules. First, the more specific you are in the brackets, the better the output — vague in, vague out. Second, the first draft is a starting point; tell ChatGPT what to change (“shorter,” “warmer,” “less salesy”) rather than accepting it. For the why behind all this, see our guide to writing good prompts.
Marketing & social
- Social post: “Write 3 [Instagram] captions for my [type of business] promoting [product/offer]. Tone: [playful/professional]. Include a hook in the first line.”
- Content ideas: “Give me 10 social post ideas for a [type of business] whose customers care about [topic]. Mix educational, behind-the-scenes, and promotional.”
- Product description: “Write a 60-word product description for [product], aimed at [customer], focusing on [main benefit].”
- Ad copy: “Write 3 short ad headlines and one-line descriptions for [product/offer], each highlighting a different benefit.”
Turn these into saved tools
The free AI Prompt Builder turns your best prompts into reusable assistants — no signup.
Try the AI Prompt Builder →Email & outreach
- Customer email: “Write a warm, professional email to a customer who [situation]. Keep it under 150 words and end with a clear next step.”
- Newsletter: “Draft a short monthly newsletter for my [business] covering [update 1, update 2, offer]. Friendly, skimmable, one clear call to action.”
- Follow-up: “Write a polite follow-up email to a lead who went quiet after [context]. Keep it brief and low-pressure.”
Customer service
- Handle a complaint: “A customer complained: ‘[paste]’. Write an empathetic reply that takes responsibility where fair and offers a clear next step. Do not promise anything I have not approved.”
- Review reply: “Write a warm response to this [positive/negative] review: ‘[paste]’. Keep it under 80 words and genuine.”
- FAQ answer: “Write a clear, friendly answer to this common customer question: [question], for a [type of business].”
Admin & operations
- Summarise: “Summarise these notes into 5 clear action points with owners: [paste].”
- Job ad: “Write a job advert for a [role] at my [business]. Include responsibilities, must-haves, and our vibe: [describe].”
- Policy draft: “Draft a plain-English [returns/booking] policy for my [business] based on these rules: [list].”
- Process checklist: “Turn this task into a simple step-by-step checklist a new hire could follow: [describe task].”
- Meeting agenda: “Create a focused 30-minute agenda for a meeting about [topic] with [who].”
Make them your own
These are starting points, not magic spells. The businesses that get the most from AI feed it their real details, edit every draft to sound like them, and check anything factual — prices, policies, promises — before it reaches a customer. Save the prompts that work in a note, and over time you will build your own playbook. Ready to go further? Turn a favourite into a reusable assistant with the Prompt Builder.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. A clear, well-structured prompt works across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot. Each platform has its own quirks, but the prompts here are not tied to any one tool.
It will if you paste the prompt, take the first result, and use it as-is. Fill the brackets with real specifics and edit the draft to match your voice — that is what turns generic output into something usably on-brand.
Use judgement with personal details. Avoid pasting sensitive information like payment details or ID numbers, and consider anonymising names. For routine questions and complaints, it is generally fine.
No. Every prompt here works on the free tier. A paid plan adds capacity and speed for heavy daily use, but it is not required to get value from these prompts.