A good question, a usable answer.
ChatGPT prompts for marketing work when they carry five things: who you are, who you write for, exactly what you want, an example of what good looks like, and the format of the answer. A prompt like "write a post about our services" gives text that fits any company, and so none. The same request with your customer, your offer and an example gives a first draft you finish in five minutes.
Below: the five building blocks, fifteen prompts for strategy, social media, email, SEO and ads that you can copy, three extra prompts for adapting campaigns to new European markets, and what you always add yourself. The prompts work in Claude, Gemini and Copilot too.
The five building blocks of a prompt
| Block | What you give | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Role | Which company you write for | "You write for an accounting firm in Ghent." |
| Context | Your customers, your offer, what you know | "Clients are freelancers in their first three years." |
| Task | Exactly what, for which channel, how long | "A 150-word LinkedIn post on the VAT return." |
| Example | A text that worked | "Write in the style of this post: ..." |
| Format | What the answer looks like | "One opening line, three paragraphs, a question, no emoji." |
OpenAI's own guide says language models work best with explicit instructions, with context and data the model does not know, and with examples that show what you want. It also advises separating the parts of a prompt clearly, with headings or tags. That is exactly what the table does.
Context makes the difference. A language model does not know your customers, your prices or what you did last month. Give it that, and the text is about your business.
- RoleVagueNoneGoodYou write for a building company in Ghent
- ContextVagueNoneGoodClients are families renovating a bathroom, budget EUR 15,000 to 25,000
- TaskVagueWrite a post about bathroomsGoodWrite a 150-word LinkedIn post on three bathroom renovation mistakes
- ExampleVagueNoneGoodAn earlier post that worked, as a style example
- FormatVagueNoneGoodAn opening line, three short paragraphs, a question to the reader, no hashtags
OpenAI advises explicit instructions, context and examples, and separating the parts of a prompt.
What ChatGPT does, what you do
- Structure
- ChatGPTAn outline, headings, a first draft
- YouDeciding what goes in and what stays out
- Facts
- ChatGPTWhat is already online, sometimes wrong
- YouYour prices, projects and figures, checked
- Tone
- ChatGPTA generic, fluent style
- YouHow you actually talk to customers
- Local nuance
- ChatGPTTextbook language
- YouThe words buyers use in each market
- Responsibility
- ChatGPTNone
- YouEverything you publish
Let ChatGPT do the first pass. Judgement, facts and tone stay with you.
Fifteen prompts to copy
Replace what sits in brackets and put your fixed context above it. Ask for three variants each time: the best one is rarely the first, and comparing shows you faster what you want.
Prompts for strategy and planning
- Audience. "Describe three customer types for [your service] in [your market]: what they look for, where they hesitate and which question they type into Google. Use only what follows from this information: [your info]."
- Marketing plan. "Build a marketing plan for [quarter] with three goals, the channels per goal and what I do each month. Budget: [amount]. Use this template: [paste]." Our marketing plan template works for this.
- Competitors. "Here are three competitors' pages: [paste]. What do they all promise, and what does nobody say? Give three angles I can claim."
Prompts for social media
- A month of posts. "Give twelve LinkedIn post ideas on [topic] across three themes: [themes]. Per idea an opening line and the core in one sentence."
- One post. "Write a 200-word LinkedIn post on [topic]. Start with the problem, give an example from [project], end with a question. No hashtags."
- A reel. "Write a 30-second reel script on [topic]: what you say in the first two seconds, three shots, the on-screen text."
Prompts for email
- Subject lines. "Give ten subject lines under eight words for a newsletter on [topic]. Say what is inside, no exclamation marks."
- A newsletter. "Write a 250-word newsletter on [topic] for [reader]. One topic, one tip, one button to [page]." More in how to write a newsletter.
- Review reply. "Write a short, personal reply to this review: [paste]. Thank, address the point, no stock phrases."
A prompt you reuse every week
- Write your fixed context onceWho you are, your customers, your offer, your tone, what you never say.
- Save itAs custom instructions, a project or your own assistant.
- Add the request per taskWhat, for which channel, how long, with which example.
- Ask for three variantsPick the best, or combine.
- Finish and checkFacts, figures, names and tone, before you publish.
Prompts for SEO and your website
- Article outline. "Outline an article on the search query [term]. One heading per sub-question, what goes under each, and which table makes the answer clearer." Then write it yourself; see how to write a blog post for SEO.
- Titles and descriptions. "Give five titles of at most 60 characters and five descriptions of at most 155 characters for a page on [topic], search term first." Test them with the SERP preview.
- FAQ. "Here are ten questions customers ask us: [paste]. Group them and write a two-sentence answer for each, the answer in the first sentence."
Prompts for ads
- Google Ads copy. "Write fifteen headlines of at most 30 characters and four descriptions of at most 90 characters for an ad on [service] in [city]."
- Meta ad. "Write three Facebook ad variants for [offer]: one with a question, one with a number, one with a customer situation. Each at most 125 characters."
- Landing page. "Write the copy for a landing page for [offer]: headline, three benefits, one proof, one button. Use only these facts: [paste]." See also landing page design.
Prompts for new European markets
Translation is where AI saves foreign companies the most time, and where it goes wrong most often. Ask for adaptation, not translation:
- "Adapt this campaign for buyers in Flanders, in Belgian Dutch: use 'btw' for VAT, 'gsm' for mobile, 'zaakvoerder' for managing director. Flag anything that would sound Dutch from the Netherlands."
- "Write a separate French version for Wallonia and Brussels. Do not translate; write for the same reader in French, with local examples."
- "List the holidays and shopping dates in [country] for [year] that matter for [product], and what I should not plan on those days."
Then have a native speaker read it. For a site in both languages, see a website in French and Dutch.
Four things never to paste into a prompt
- Personal dataCustomer names, addresses and details without a legal basis.
- Passwords and keysLogins, API keys, access codes.
- Confidential contractsQuotes and agreements under confidentiality.
- Financial detailsAccount numbers, margins per client, payslips.
What you always add yourself
A language model fills in what is probable, not what is true. Check every figure, date and name. Add what only you know: a project, a price, a customer question from this week. Google judges pages on how useful they are, not how they were made, but using AI to mass-produce pages for rankings counts as spam. And since 2 August 2026 the EU AI Act asks you to disclose AI-written text on matters of public interest unless a person reviewed it and takes responsibility, also when your company is based outside the EU; see the AI Act transparency obligations.
What it means for your business
A company from abroad gains most from the market prompts above, plus a fixed context per language. A small business wins with one fixed context and three or four prompts that come back every week. An online store uses prompts mainly for product copy and ads, with the product data attached. An agency sets a context per client and agrees in writing what AI may and may not do.
Which assistant, and what it costs
ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini all write good first drafts; they differ in tone, length and how they handle long documents. Compare ChatGPT vs Claude and ChatGPT vs Gemini; subscription prices are in ChatGPT pricing. Decide who on your team may do what with an AI policy; see do I need an AI policy.
How VBS sets up your assistant
From Ghent, Belgium, we build AI for business: your fixed context, prompts per task and an assistant that uses your knowledge, in the languages you sell in, with a policy for your team. What running one costs you can estimate with the AI cost calculator. Book a call.