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Best AI Prompts for Small Business: 15 Ready-to-Use Templates

Running a small business means wearing every hat — marketing, sales, customer support, finance, operations. You are the CEO and the intern. That is exactly why AI prompts for small business have become the ultimate productivity hack in 2026. The right prompt turns ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini into a specialist on demand, handling tasks that used to eat hours of your week.

But here is the problem: most prompt guides are written for developers or enterprise teams. They assume you have time to learn prompt engineering theory. You do not. You need prompts that work right now, for real business tasks, with zero learning curve.

That is what this guide delivers. Fifteen battle-tested AI prompts for small business owners — organized by the tasks you actually do every day. Copy them. Paste them. Watch your to-do list shrink.

## Marketing and Content Prompts

### 1. Social Media Post Generator

Prompt: 'You are a social media strategist for a small [industry] business. Write 5 engaging social media posts for [platform]. Each post should be under [character limit], include a call to action, and match a [casual/professional] tone. Our product is [describe product]. Our target audience is [describe audience].'

This single prompt replaces hours of staring at a blank screen. The key is filling in the brackets with your specifics — the more detail you give, the better the output.

### 2. Email Marketing Campaign

Prompt: 'Write a 3-email welcome sequence for new subscribers to my [type of business]. Email 1: warm welcome and brand story (send day 0). Email 2: top 3 tips related to [your niche] (send day 3). Email 3: soft pitch for [your product or service] with a limited-time offer (send day 7). Keep each email under 200 words. Tone: friendly and helpful, not salesy.'

Email marketing still delivers the highest ROI for small businesses. This prompt gives you a complete automated sequence in minutes instead of days.

### 3. Blog Post Outline

Prompt: 'Create a detailed blog post outline for the topic: [your topic]. Target keyword: [keyword]. Include an engaging H1 title, 5-7 H2 sections, 2-3 bullet points under each H2, a compelling introduction hook, and a conclusion with a call to action. The audience is [describe reader]. Aim for 1,200 words when fully written.'

## Sales and Customer Service Prompts

### 4. Sales Follow-Up Email

Prompt: 'Write a friendly follow-up email to a potential customer who [attended a demo / downloaded a resource / visited our booth]. Reference [specific interaction]. Keep it under 150 words. Include one clear next step. Tone: helpful, not pushy. My business is [describe business].'

Following up is where most small businesses drop the ball. This prompt makes it effortless to send personalized follow-ups that actually convert.

### 5. Customer FAQ Generator

Prompt: 'Based on this description of my business: [paste business description], generate the 10 most likely customer questions and write clear, concise answers for each. Format as Q&A. Keep answers under 3 sentences. Include one answer that naturally mentions our [specific product or feature].'

### 6. Review Response Templates

Prompt: 'Write 3 response templates for online reviews of my [type of business]: one for a 5-star review (grateful, personal), one for a 3-star review (acknowledge feedback, offer improvement), and one for a 1-star review (empathetic, solution-oriented, invite offline conversation). Keep each under 100 words.'

Responding to reviews builds trust and improves local SEO. These templates let you reply in seconds while still sounding genuine and thoughtful.

## Operations and Planning Prompts

### 7. Weekly Task Prioritizer

Prompt: 'I run a small [type of business] with [number] employees. Here are my tasks for this week: [list tasks]. Prioritize them using the Eisenhower Matrix (urgent/important). For each task, suggest whether I should do it myself, delegate it, schedule it, or drop it. Be ruthless — I only have 40 hours.'

### 8. Standard Operating Procedure Writer

Prompt: 'Write a step-by-step standard operating procedure (SOP) for [specific task, e.g., processing a customer return]. Include: purpose, scope, required tools or access, numbered steps, common mistakes to avoid, and an estimated time per step. Write it so a new employee could follow it on day one.'

SOPs are the backbone of a scalable business. Most owners know they need them but never find time to write them. This prompt does it in two minutes.

### 9. Meeting Agenda and Summary

Prompt: 'I have a 30-minute meeting about [topic] with [who]. Create a focused agenda with time allocations. After the meeting, I will paste my notes — then summarize the key decisions, action items with owners, and deadlines in a clean format I can share with the team.'

## Finance and Strategy Prompts

### 10. Cash Flow Scenario Planner

Prompt: 'I run a [type of business] with monthly revenue of approximately [amount] and fixed costs of [amount]. Model three scenarios for the next 6 months: optimistic (20% growth), baseline (flat), and pessimistic (15% decline). For each scenario, show monthly cash flow and flag when I would need additional funding. Keep it simple — I am not a finance person.'

### 11. Pricing Strategy Analyzer

Prompt: 'I sell [product/service] at [current price]. My costs are [list costs]. My competitors charge [competitor prices]. Analyze whether I should raise, lower, or keep my price. Consider value perception, margin impact, and market positioning. Give me a specific recommendation with reasoning.'

### 12. Competitor Analysis Brief

Prompt: 'Analyze my top 3 competitors in the [industry] space: [list competitors]. For each, identify their strengths, weaknesses, pricing model, and unique selling proposition. Then tell me: what gap exists in the market that my business ([describe your business]) could fill? Be specific and actionable.'

## Hiring and Team Prompts

### 13. Job Description Writer

Prompt: 'Write a job description for a [role] at my small [type of business]. Include: a compelling opening paragraph about the company, 5-7 key responsibilities, required qualifications vs nice-to-haves, salary range context for [location], and a closing that sells the opportunity. Avoid corporate jargon — we are a small team and want someone who thrives in that environment.'

### 14. Interview Question Generator

Prompt: 'Generate 10 interview questions for a [role] at a small business. Mix behavioral questions (past experience), situational questions (hypothetical scenarios), and role-specific technical questions. For each question, include what a great answer looks like in 1-2 sentences. Avoid generic questions like tell me about yourself.'

### 15. Onboarding Checklist Creator

Prompt: 'Create a 30-day onboarding checklist for a new [role] at my [type of business]. Break it into Week 1 (orientation and setup), Week 2 (training and shadowing), Week 3 (guided independent work), and Week 4 (full responsibilities with check-ins). Include specific tasks, who they should meet, and what success looks like at the end of 30 days.'

## How to Get the Most Out of These Prompts

These prompts are templates, not scripts. The magic is in customization. Here are three rules that will dramatically improve your results.

First, be specific about your business. Do not say 'I run a business.' Say 'I run a 5-person digital marketing agency in Austin that specializes in local restaurants.' The more context you give, the more relevant the output.

Second, iterate. Your first result will be good. Your third will be great. After the AI responds, say 'Make it more concise' or 'Add more specific examples' or 'Adjust the tone to be warmer.' Treat it like a conversation, not a one-shot request.

Third, save what works. When you find a prompt that nails it for your business, save it somewhere you can find it again. Build your own prompt library over time. Or skip the trial-and-error entirely — our curated prompt collections at LaerKai (https://fromlaerkai.store) are designed specifically for business use cases, so you can start with proven templates and customize from there.

## The Bottom Line

AI is not going to replace small business owners. But small business owners who use AI will outpace those who do not. These 15 prompts cover the tasks that eat most of your time — marketing, sales, operations, finance, and hiring. Each one is ready to copy, paste, and customize in under a minute.

Want even more? Browse our full collection of 200+ business-ready AI prompt templates at LaerKai (https://fromlaerkai.store). From marketing campaigns to financial modeling to team management — every template is tested, optimized, and ready to use with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or any AI model. Stop writing prompts from scratch. Start running your business smarter.