ChatGPT Prompts for Small Business: 12 Templates That Save Hours

Why generic prompts fail small business owners

Typing "write me a marketing plan" into ChatGPT produces a generic plan that could belong to any company. The model has no idea what you sell, who buys it, or what you can spend — so it invents an average business and answers for that.

The fix is a structured prompt: state the role you want ChatGPT to play, describe your business in one or two sentences, set constraints (budget, tone, length), and say exactly what the output should look like. Every template below follows that pattern — replace the parts in [BRACKETS] with your details.

Marketing and customer-acquisition prompts

• Local marketing plan — "Act as a marketing consultant for local businesses. My business: [WHAT YOU SELL] in [CITY/AREA], serving [CUSTOMER TYPE], with a monthly budget of [BUDGET]. Build a 90-day marketing plan: the 3 channels most likely to work for this budget, what to do on each channel each week, and how to measure whether it is working."
• Google Business Profile description — "Write a Google Business Profile description for [BUSINESS], which offers [SERVICES] to [CUSTOMERS] in [AREA]. Under 750 characters, natural keywords, no hype, end with what makes us different: [DIFFERENTIATOR]."
• Social proof request — "Write a short, friendly text message asking a happy customer for a Google review. Context: they just [WHAT YOU DID FOR THEM]. Make leaving the review feel like a 60-second favor and include a placeholder for the review link."
• Promotional email — "Act as an email copywriter for small businesses. Write a promotional email announcing [OFFER] to my list of past customers. Subject line options (3), a body under 150 words that leads with the benefit, one clear call to action, and a PS line creating gentle urgency (honest — the offer really ends [DATE])."

Operations and customer-service prompts

• Complaint response — "Act as a customer service expert. A customer wrote this complaint: [PASTE COMPLAINT]. Draft a reply that acknowledges the specific issue, takes responsibility where appropriate, offers a concrete fix, and keeps the customer. Warm, human tone — no corporate boilerplate."
• FAQ page — "Based on this description of my business — [2–3 SENTENCES] — write the 10 questions customers most likely ask before buying, with clear 2–3 sentence answers I can edit. Group them by theme."
• Standard operating procedure — "Turn this messy description of how we [TASK, e.g. onboard a new client] into a clean step-by-step SOP a new hire could follow without asking questions: [DESCRIBE THE PROCESS]. Number the steps, bold decision points, and flag anything that seems missing."
• Job posting — "Write a job posting for a [ROLE] at [BUSINESS TYPE]. Responsibilities: [LIST]. Make it specific and honest about the work, lead with why the job is worth having, and end with a simple application instruction. No clichés like 'rockstar' or 'fast-paced environment'."

Planning and strategy prompts

• One-page business plan — "Act as a small-business advisor. Using this input — what I sell: [PRODUCT/SERVICE]; who buys it: [CUSTOMER]; how I currently get customers: [CHANNELS]; monthly revenue goal: [GOAL] — produce a one-page plan: positioning statement, top 3 growth levers, the biggest risk, and the first action for each lever."
• Pricing review — "Act as a pricing strategist. I charge [CURRENT PRICE] for [PRODUCT/SERVICE]; my costs are roughly [COSTS]; competitors charge [RANGE]. Analyse whether I am under- or over-priced, propose 3 pricing options (with the psychology behind each), and recommend one with reasoning."
• Competitor analysis — "Compare my business — [SHORT DESCRIPTION] — against this competitor: [COMPETITOR + WHAT THEY DO]. Build a table of where they are stronger, where I am stronger, and the gaps neither of us serves. End with the single most exploitable gap and how to attack it on a small budget."
• Weekly review assistant — "Act as my business coach. Here is what happened this week: [WINS / PROBLEMS / NUMBERS]. Summarize the 3 things that mattered, ask me the 3 hardest questions a good coach would ask, and suggest the highest-leverage focus for next week."

How to get better results from every prompt

Two habits multiply the value of these templates. First, keep a short "business context" paragraph saved — what you sell, to whom, at what price, with what goal — and paste it at the start of any session. ChatGPT answers dramatically better when it knows your business.

Second, treat the first answer as a draft. Ask follow-ups like "make it more specific to [X]" or "give me 3 variations of the second paragraph". If you would rather have the structure built for you, a prompt generator like PromptVibe turns a plain-language goal into a fully structured prompt for free, and curated packs bundle dozens of business prompts written this way.

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