AI Prompts for Small Business: 20 Copy-and-Paste Prompts That Save Hours

You don't need a marketing team or an assistant to get help with the endless small writing and planning jobs of a small business. A good AI prompt does in two minutes what used to take an evening. Below are 20 prompts that work in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok or Copilot. Replace anything in [brackets] with your details.

Before you start: teach AI your voice

Generic prompts get generic results. Spend five minutes on this once and every later prompt improves:

Example promptHere are three things I've written for my business: [paste a post, an email and your About page]. Describe my brand voice in 5 bullet points (tone, words I use, words I avoid, sentence length, personality). I'll paste this description before future requests.

Marketing and social media

1. A month of posts. Example promptCreate a 4-week social media plan for [business], a [type of business] in [town]. Our customers are [who]. Three posts a week: one tip, one behind-the-scenes, one offer. Give each post a caption and an image idea.

2. Promote an offer. Ask for three versions of an announcement for a sale or new product: one for Instagram, one for email and one for a sign in the shop window.

3. Local SEO help. Example promptWrite a 150-word description of [business] for our Google Business Profile. Mention we're in [neighborhood, town], what we offer, what makes us different and our hours. Natural and friendly, not stuffed with keywords.

4. Website text. Ask it to rewrite your homepage so a first-time visitor understands in five seconds what you do, who it's for and how to buy or book.

5. Content ideas. Example promptList 20 questions customers of a [type of business] often ask before buying. For each, suggest a short blog post or video title.

Customers and reviews

6. Reply to a bad review. Example promptWrite a calm, professional reply to this review: [paste review]. Apologize for the experience without admitting legal fault, explain briefly what we're doing about it, and invite them to contact us directly. Under 80 words.

7. Thank a good review. Ask for five short, varied thank-you replies so they don't all sound copied.

8. Answer common questions. Paste your policies and ask AI to write an FAQ page in plain English.

9. A tricky email. Example promptHelp me write a polite but firm email to a customer whose invoice is 30 days overdue. It's the second reminder. Keep the relationship friendly and give a clear new due date of [date].

10. Ask for reviews. Ask for a short message to send after a purchase, asking happy customers for a review with a link.

Planning and decisions

11. Pricing check. Example promptI sell [product/service] for [price]. My costs are about [costs] per unit and I spend [time] on each. Help me check whether my price makes sense, and list questions I should research about competitors' prices.

12. Weekly plan. Paste your to-do list and ask AI to sort it by urgency and impact, and to suggest what to delegate or drop.

13. Idea testing. Ask AI to play a skeptical customer and poke holes in a new product idea before you spend money on it.

14. A simple business plan. Example promptInterview me one question at a time to create a one-page business plan for [idea]. Cover customers, offer, pricing, marketing, costs and risks. When we're done, write the plan.

15. Event planning. Ask for a checklist and timeline for a launch, pop-up or open day.

Admin and operations

16. Job ad. Example promptWrite a friendly job post for a part-time [role] at [business], [hours] a week, [pay]. Include what they'll do, who'd enjoy it and how to apply. Avoid jargon and any wording that could put off older or younger applicants.

17. Staff checklist. Turn how you open or close the shop into a step-by-step checklist a new hire can follow.

18. Summarize a long document. Upload a supplier contract or lease and ask for the key dates, costs and anything unusual, in plain English. (For anything important, still have a professional review it.)

19. Spreadsheet help. Example promptI have a spreadsheet with columns: date, product, quantity, price. Give me the formulas to calculate monthly revenue and my best-selling product, and explain step by step where to put them in Google Sheets.

20. Meeting notes. Paste rough notes and ask for a summary with decisions, action items and who's responsible.

Getting better results

• Give context: who your customers are, your town, your price point. Specific beats clever.
• Ask for options: three versions, then "combine the best of 1 and 3".
• Edit before you publish. Check facts, prices and promises. AI can invent details that sound right.
• Protect customer data: use placeholders instead of real names and contact details. See our safety guide.

Build your own prompt library

Once a prompt works well, save it. A simple document with your ten best prompts, your brand voice description and a short business summary turns AI into a reliable helper rather than a slot machine. Review it every few months and update anything that has changed, such as prices, hours or services.

Want more? Our prompting guide explains why these prompts work, and AI automations for beginners shows how to put repetitive jobs on autopilot.