ChatGPT Prompts Every Local Business Owner Should Use
We need to have an honest talk about ChatGPT. Half of you are ignoring it because it sounds like complicated tech stuff, and the other half are using it to crank out posts that read like a robot wrote them, because one did. Both camps are leaving money on the table.
Here is the truth. Used well, ChatGPT is a marketing intern, a copywriter, and a brainstorming partner rolled into one, for free. The only catch is that you have to know how to talk to it.
So here are the prompts that actually save you time and make you money. Steal them.
How to Use These Prompts (Read This First)
Do not paste these in word for word. Swap the [brackets] for your real business details. The more specific you are, the better the output.
And it is not magic. If the first answer comes back generic or off-target, tell ChatGPT what was wrong and ask it to try again. Treat it like a new hire. You have to train it a little before it gets good.
Social Media Content (Stop Staring at a Blank Screen)
Prompt 1: Monthly Social Media Calendar
I run a [type of business] in [location] serving [target customer]. Create a 30-day social media content calendar with post ideas for Instagram and Facebook. Include a mix of educational, promotional, and engaging content. Format it as a table with columns for date, post type, caption idea, and visual suggestion.
Why it works: You get a month’s worth of ideas in 30 seconds. Customize the good ones, skip the weak ones.
Prompt 2: Engaging Captions
Write 5 Instagram captions for a [type of business] announcing [specific offer/service/update]. Make them conversational, include a call-to-action, and keep them under 150 characters. Include relevant hashtags.
Example: “Write 5 Instagram captions for a pizza restaurant announcing a new happy hour special from 3-6 PM on weekdays. Make them conversational, include a call-to-action, and keep them under 150 characters.”
Prompt 3: Engagement Posts That Actually Get Comments
Give me 10 “fill-in-the-blank” or “this or that” style posts for a [business type] to increase engagement on social media. Make them fun and relevant to my industry.
These are the posts that get your audience actually interacting instead of just scrolling past.
Email Marketing (Because You Know You Should Be Doing This)
Prompt 4: Welcome Email Sequence
Create a 3-email welcome sequence for new customers of a [business type]. Email 1 should welcome them and set expectations. Email 2 should provide value and tips. Email 3 should include a soft sell for [specific service/product]. Keep each email under 200 words and include subject lines.
Prompt 5: Re-engagement Email
Write an email to win back customers who haven’t visited my [business type] in 6+ months. Make it friendly, not desperate. Include a special offer and a clear call-to-action. Subject line should be intriguing but not clickbait-y.
Prompt 6: Monthly Newsletter Framework
Create a template outline for a monthly newsletter for a [business type]. Include sections for: company update, helpful tip/how-to, customer spotlight, and special offer. Give me example content for this month.
Google Business Profile Posts (Free Visibility)
Prompt 7: Weekly GBP Posts
Write 4 Google Business Profile posts for a [business type] this week. Include: 1 tip/educational post, 1 promotional offer, 1 FAQ answer, and 1 engagement question. Keep each under 100 words with a clear call-to-action.
Why it matters: These show up in Google Search and Maps. Free real estate you are probably ignoring.
Customer Service Responses (Save Your Sanity)
Prompt 8: Review Response Templates
Create response templates for a [business type] for: 5-star reviews (2 variations), 3-star reviews with specific complaints about [common issue], and 1-star reviews. Keep responses professional, brief, and authentic. Don’t be overly apologetic.
Prompt 9: FAQ Answers
I run a [business type]. Write clear, friendly answers to these common questions: [list 3-5 questions]. Keep answers under 100 words each and end with a soft call-to-action to contact us or book.
Ad Copy (For When You Actually Run Ads)
Prompt 10: Facebook Ad Variations
Write 3 versions of a Facebook ad for a [business type] promoting [service/offer]. Target audience is [demographic]. Include headline, primary text, and call-to-action for each version. Variation 1: benefit-focused, Variation 2: problem-solution, Variation 3: social proof/testimonial angle.
Prompt 11: Google Ad Headlines
Create 10 Google Search ad headlines (under 30 characters each) for a [business type] targeting people searching for [service] in [location]. Make them specific and actionable.
Website Copy (Your Site Probably Needs This)
Prompt 12: Service Page Descriptions
Write a compelling service page description for [specific service] offered by a [business type]. Include: what it is, who it’s for, benefits (not just features), and why choose us. Keep it under 300 words and conversational.
Prompt 13: About Page That Doesn’t Suck
Write an “About Us” page for a [business type] that’s been in business for [X years] in [location]. Include our story, what makes us different, and why customers should trust us. Make it personal and authentic, not corporate. Under 400 words.
SEO & Content Ideas (Get Found on Google)
Prompt 14: Blog Post Topics
Generate 20 blog post ideas for a [business type] serving [target audience] in [location]. Focus on topics that answer common customer questions and would help with local SEO. Format as a numbered list with a brief description of each.
Prompt 15: SEO-Optimized Blog Post Outline
Create a detailed outline for a blog post titled “[your topic]” for a [business type]. Include H2 and H3 subheadings, key points to cover, and suggested word count for each section. Target keyword is “[keyword]”.
Lead Generation (Turn Browsers Into Buyers)
Prompt 16: Lead Magnet Ideas
Suggest 10 lead magnet ideas (free downloads, checklists, guides) that a [business type] could offer to collect email addresses. Make them valuable and specific to [target customer’s problem/goal].
Prompt 17: Landing Page Copy
Write landing page copy for a [business type] offering [specific lead magnet or service]. Include: attention-grabbing headline, 3-4 benefit bullets, social proof section, and strong call-to-action. Keep the total under 400 words.
Brainstorming & Strategy (When You’re Stuck)
Prompt 18: Competitor Analysis
I run a [business type] in [location]. My main competitors are [list 2-3 competitors or types of competitors]. Suggest 5 ways I could differentiate my business and stand out in the market.
Prompt 19: Promotion Ideas
Give me 10 creative promotion ideas for a [business type] to run in [specific month/season]. Consider my target customer is [demographic] and I want to increase [specific goal: foot traffic, bookings, sales, etc.]. Be specific and actionable.
Prompt 20: Content Repurposing
I just [wrote a blog post / created a video / ran a promotion] about [topic]. Give me 10 ways to repurpose this content across different marketing channels: social media, email, Google Business Profile, and paid ads.
The Advanced Move: Creating a Custom GPT
Here is something most people do not know. You can build a custom version of ChatGPT trained on your business specifically, so you stop re-explaining who you are every single time.
The Prompt to Build Your Business Assistant:
I want to create a custom GPT to help with marketing for my business. I run a [business type] in [location] serving [target customer]. Our brand voice is [describe: professional, casual, funny, etc.]. Our main services are [list]. Our unique selling points are [list].
Please help me create a detailed instruction set for a custom GPT that can help with social media posts, email marketing, ad copy, and customer service responses while maintaining our brand voice.
Save that custom GPT and use it for all your marketing content. It will stay consistent with your brand voice every time.
Pro Tips for Better Results
Be Specific: “Write a social media post” gets you garbage. “Write an Instagram caption for a plumbing company announcing 24/7 emergency service with a 2-hour response time guarantee” gets you gold.
Give Examples: If you have a writing style you like, paste an example and say “write in this style.”
Iterate: First result is meh? Tell ChatGPT what you didn’t like and ask it to try again.
Combine Prompts: Use one prompt to generate ideas, then use another to write the actual content.
What ChatGPT CAN’T Do (Don’t Get Carried Away)
- Replace your expertise and personal touch
- Know your local market specifics (unless you tell it)
- Create truly original creative ideas (it remixes what exists)
- Replace human connection with customers
- Make strategic decisions for your business
Think of it as a tool that handles the grunt work so you can focus on the stuff that actually requires your brain.
The Bottom Line
You now have 20+ prompts that will save you hours every week. Bookmark this page. Actually use them. Tweak them for your business.
The businesses winning with AI are not using it to replace human creativity. They are using it to speed up the boring, time-consuming stuff so they can focus on serving customers and growing the business.
So stop overthinking it. Copy a prompt, fill in the brackets, and see what happens. Worst case, you delete it and try again. Best case, you just saved yourself two hours of staring at a blank screen.
Want the Results Without the Homework?
These prompts work, but only if you sit down and run them week after week. If you would rather hand the whole thing off, that is what we do at Digital Maestro. We handle the social posts, the emails, the Google Business Profile updates, and the ad copy, written in your voice and posted on a schedule, so you can get back to running the business.
Let us take the marketing off your plate.
This is so cool. ChatGPT is like a consultant in your pocket.
Life would have been so much easier to have this when I had my own business 15 years ago!
Barbara, exactly. You would have saved thousands in consultant fees alone. The good news is you have it now for whatever you are doing next, whether that is your own business or just helping someone else run theirs more smartly.
Be Well.
Paul.
As someone who also teaches small business owners how maximize the results of their AI assistant, these are all excellent! I especially love the Google Business Profile and content repurposing prompts. I prefer Perplexity as my AI business partner. I shared this post inside my community. Thank you!
Kandas, thank you for sharing it. And Perplexity is a solid choice – different tool for a different job. The prompts work across most of them, which is why they are so useful. Appreciate you passing it along to your community.
For the record, I am Team Claude!
Any business can benefit greatly from these ChatGPT prompts. I agree with your reminders on what ChatGPT can’t do. Mentioning about creating a custom GPT chatbot is also a plus. Overall, your tips for using it are relevant. I appreciate you sharing this post.
Danwil, thank you. The boundaries are as important as the prompts – knowing what the tool can and cannot do keeps you from wasting time chasing the wrong things. Glad the custom GPT section was helpful.
Oh, I love the idea of creating a custom GPT. I created a “Waltz Concierge” GPT for a course I have. You give him the mood you are in, what you fancy writing about, and it suggests a waltz from a playlist I put together. It’s super fun! I also love to use ChatGPT or Claude to help me SEO my blog posts: focus key phrases, meta descriptions and titles. It’s brilliant! 🙂 Great article, Paul!
Daniela, the Waltz Concierge is a perfect example of a custom GPT done right – it solves a real problem and makes the experience better for your students. And yes, using Claude or ChatGPT for SEO optimization is exactly the kind of work these tools excel at. You are doing it right.
Very interesting. I’m still learning a bunch about SEO and meta descriptions and all that. I haven’t looking into ChatGPT yet.
Iku, ChatGPT is a good shortcut once you understand the basics of SEO and meta descriptions. Start by learning those fundamentals first, then let ChatGPT help you work faster. The tool is only as good as the person using it.
After reading another post about AI – I’ll admit I’m still leery towards it but I had a conversation with a friend today about AI and he said some of the same things you mentioned in this post. He actually analyzed my website/blog/store with the help of AI and the information was helpful – so I’m at odds now. Haha!! This was interesting and tempting to use. Maybe I’ll try it. Thanks for the food for thought – I’ll bookmark it! Hope you’re doing well!
Natalie, your friend basically did the perfect thing with AI – he looked at your stuff and told you what’s good and what’s not. It’s totally okay to be nervous about it. You should know what it can do and what it can’t do. But once you try it yourself and see it actually work, you’ll probably feel better about using it. Just give it a try.
Paul, thank you for the great prompt suggestions! You’ve stretched my thinking.
Kebba, that’s what I want these to do. When you think more, you come up with better questions. And better questions give you better answers.
SO, I actually caved and cozied up to ChatGPT to ask some of these prompts. I implemented some of them and I think they’ve helped immensely! Thanks so much!!
Good for you, Natalie! Way to go!
Be Well.
Paul.