I have tested hundreds of ChatGPT prompts over the past two years. Most of them are rubbish. Vague instructions that produce vague output. The kind of thing you read in a listicle and never use again.
These 21 are different. They are specific, tested on real small businesses, and designed to produce output you can actually use. Copy them. Paste them. Edit the bracketed parts. Get results.
One caveat before we start: ChatGPT is brilliant at generating text and ideas. It is not brilliant at executing strategy. For that, you need something else entirely. But we will get to that.
Market Research (3 Prompts)
Prompt 1: Competitor Landscape Analysis
You are a market research analyst. I run a [type of business] in [location]. My three closest competitors are [competitor 1], [competitor 2], and [competitor 3]. For each competitor, analyse: 1. Their apparent target customer (based on their website and messaging) 2. Their pricing strategy (budget, mid-range, or premium) 3. One thing they do better than most in the market 4. One obvious weakness or gap in their offering Present this as a comparison table, then give me 3 specific opportunities where I could differentiate.
This works because it forces ChatGPT to think structurally. You get a usable competitive map in two minutes instead of spending a weekend on spreadsheets.
Prompt 2: Customer Pain Point Discovery
I sell [product/service] to [target customer]. List the 10 most common frustrations, complaints, and unmet needs that this customer segment experiences when buying or using [product/service category]. For each frustration, rate it 1-5 on: - Severity (how much it bothers them) - Frequency (how often they encounter it) - Current solutions available (1 = many options, 5 = nothing good exists) Sort by total score descending. This will tell me where the biggest opportunity gaps are.
The scoring system is the key. Without it, you get a generic list. With it, you get prioritised insights.
Prompt 3: Market Size Estimation
Help me estimate the market size for [your product/service] in [location/region]. Use a top-down approach: - Total population or businesses in the area - % that match my target demographic: [describe target customer] - % likely to need this product/service in a given year - Average spend per customer per year: £[your estimate] Then use a bottom-up approach: - Number of customers I could realistically serve per month - Average transaction value - Annual revenue at 50%, 75%, and 100% capacity Show both approaches and highlight where they agree or diverge.
Banks and investors love this dual-approach method. And it takes ChatGPT about 30 seconds to produce what would take you a day with a calculator and Google.
Business Planning (3 Prompts)
Prompt 4: 90-Day Action Plan
I am launching a [type of business] targeting [customer type] in [location]. My budget is £[amount] and I can dedicate [hours] per week. Create a 90-day action plan broken into three phases: - Days 1-30: Foundation (what must exist before I can sell) - Days 31-60: Launch (first customers and feedback) - Days 61-90: Optimise (double down on what works) For each phase, give me exactly 5 specific, measurable actions. No vague advice like "build your brand." Tell me exactly what to do.
Prompt 5: Revenue Model Builder
I run a [business type]. My current revenue comes from [describe]. I want to add 2-3 additional revenue streams that: - Require less than £500 to set up - Can generate income within 60 days - Do not cannibalise my existing revenue For each suggestion, provide: - Setup cost and time - Realistic monthly revenue range (conservative and optimistic) - One example of a similar business doing this successfully
Prompt 6: SWOT with Teeth
Create a SWOT analysis for my [business type] in [location/market]. Context: [2-3 sentences about your business, what you sell, who to] Do NOT give me generic strengths like "passionate founder." Be specific and honest. For each item in Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, include: - One concrete action I should take in response - A deadline (this week, this month, this quarter, or this year) I want a SWOT that actually changes how I operate, not one that sits in a drawer.
Now, here is something worth knowing. These three business planning prompts are useful. They will get you decent output. But you will spend 20-30 minutes refining the results, feeding in context, and stitching the answers together into something coherent.
The Mira.AI Launch Plan does all of this — the 90-day plan, revenue model, SWOT, customer targeting, and platform recommendation — in a single 30-second interaction. It asks you three questions and produces a complete, connected launch strategy. No prompt engineering required. If you are serious about launching, it is the faster route.
Website Copy (3 Prompts)
Prompt 7: Homepage Hero Section
Write 5 variations of homepage hero copy for my [business type]. Target customer: [describe them — age, situation, what they want] Main benefit: [the single biggest thing you deliver] Tone: [professional/friendly/bold/minimal] Each variation needs: - A headline (max 8 words) - A subheadline (max 20 words) - A call-to-action button text (max 4 words) Make variation 1 benefit-focused, variation 2 pain-focused, variation 3 curiosity-driven, variation 4 social-proof-based, and variation 5 urgency-based.
Prompt 8: About Page That Converts
Write an About page for my [business type] website. This is NOT a biography. This is a sales page disguised as a story. Structure it as: 1. Opening hook — the problem I noticed in the market (2 sentences) 2. My background — only the parts relevant to why I can solve it (3 sentences) 3. What I believe — a contrarian take on my industry (2 sentences) 4. What I do differently — specific, not vague (3 bullet points) 5. Call to action — what to do next My business: [describe] My background: [relevant experience] My contrarian belief: [what you think the industry gets wrong]
Prompt 9: Service/Product Descriptions
Write a product/service description for [product name]. Price: £[amount] Target buyer: [who they are and what they need] Top 3 features: [list them] Main competitor alternative: [what they would buy instead] Structure: Lead with the outcome (what changes for the buyer). Then the mechanism (how it works — 3 steps max). Then proof (include a placeholder for a testimonial). Then price justification (why it is worth £X). End with a single clear CTA. Max 200 words. No filler adjectives.
Email Marketing (3 Prompts)
Prompt 10: Welcome Email Sequence
Write a 5-email welcome sequence for new subscribers to my [business type]. Email 1 (Day 0): Deliver the lead magnet + set expectations Email 2 (Day 2): Share my origin story (keep it to 150 words) Email 3 (Day 4): Teach one valuable thing (a quick win they can use today) Email 4 (Day 7): Social proof — a customer result or testimonial Email 5 (Day 10): Soft pitch — introduce my paid product/service For each email, provide: subject line, preview text, body copy. Tone: conversational, not corporate. Write like a human, not a brand. My business: [describe] My lead magnet: [what they signed up for] My paid offer: [what you sell]
Prompt 11: Re-engagement Email
Write a re-engagement email for subscribers who have not opened my emails in 90+ days. Subject line options: give me 5 (aim for curiosity, not clickbait) Tone: honest, slightly self-deprecating, not desperate Length: under 100 words The email should: 1. Acknowledge they have been quiet (do not guilt-trip) 2. Offer one genuinely useful thing (link to my best content) 3. Give them an easy way to stay or leave (preference centre link) My business: [describe] My best piece of content: [URL or description]
Prompt 12: Promotional Email
Write a promotional email for [offer — e.g., 20% off, new service launch]. Rules: - Lead with the benefit to the reader, not the feature of my product - Subject line must create urgency without being spammy - Body copy under 150 words - Include exactly one CTA button - Add a P.S. line with a secondary hook Offer details: [describe the offer] Deadline: [when it expires] Target segment: [who is receiving this]
Email marketing is where ChatGPT genuinely shines. But writing brilliant emails is pointless if you do not have anyone to send them to. That is the part most AI tools conveniently skip over — actually finding the people who want to hear from you.
Free Tool
Get your AI launch plan in 30 seconds
Tell Mira your business idea. She builds your personalised roadmap — platform, domain, customers, and a 30-day plan.
Build My Launch Plan →Social Media (3 Prompts)
Prompt 13: Content Calendar
Create a 30-day social media content calendar for my [business type] on [platform — Instagram/LinkedIn/TikTok]. Post frequency: [X] times per week Content pillars: [list 3-4 topics you want to cover] For each post, provide: - Post type (carousel, single image, reel/video, text-only) - Caption (ready to copy-paste, under 150 words) - Hashtag set (10 hashtags, mix of broad and niche) - Best time to post (based on [platform] best practices for [industry]) Include 2 "engagement" posts per week (polls, questions, this-or-that) to boost algorithm reach.
Prompt 14: LinkedIn Thought Leadership
Write 5 LinkedIn posts for a [your role] in [your industry]. Each post should: - Open with a bold or surprising statement (the hook) - Be 150-200 words - End with a question to drive comments - Include line breaks for readability (this is LinkedIn, not an essay) Topics: 1. A lesson I learned the hard way in business 2. An unpopular opinion about [your industry] 3. A behind-the-scenes look at [something in your process] 4. A mistake I see [target customers] making 5. A simple framework that changed how I [do something] No corporate jargon. No "I'm humbled to announce." Write like a real person.
Prompt 15: Instagram Carousel Script
Write an Instagram carousel (10 slides) about [topic relevant to your audience]. Slide 1: Bold headline that stops the scroll (max 6 words) Slides 2-8: One key point per slide. Max 25 words per slide. Use short sentences. Make each slide standalone. Slide 9: Summary of all points in a quick list Slide 10: CTA — what to do next (follow, save, link in bio) Caption: 100 words max, starts with a hook, ends with a question. Include a CTA to [your link/offer]. Topic: [describe] Audience: [who are they] Goal: [awareness/traffic/sales]
Customer Research (3 Prompts)
Prompt 16: Customer Avatar Deep Dive
Build a detailed customer avatar for my [business type]. Go beyond demographics. I need: - Demographics: age, income, location, job title - Psychographics: values, fears, aspirations, daily frustrations - Buying behaviour: where they research, what triggers a purchase, their biggest objection, how long they take to decide - Media habits: which social platforms, podcasts, YouTube channels, blogs they consume - The "3am worry": what keeps them up at night that my product solves Present this as a single named persona with a one-paragraph "day in the life" story at the end.
Prompt 17: Review Mining
I want to understand what customers in my market actually say. My market: [describe your product/service category] Simulate analysing customer reviews (both positive and negative) for this type of product/service. Give me: 1. The 5 most common praise phrases (things happy customers say) 2. The 5 most common complaints (things unhappy customers say) 3. The 3 features/aspects mentioned most often 4. The emotional language customers use (not logical — emotional) 5. 3 direct-quote-style testimonials I could use as templates for soliciting my own reviews This helps me write copy that sounds like my customers, not like me.
Prompt 18: Survey Question Generator
Write 10 customer survey questions for my [business type]. Rules: - No leading questions - Mix of multiple choice (5), rating scale (2), and open-ended (3) - Keep it under 3 minutes to complete - Questions should reveal: satisfaction, unmet needs, willingness to pay more, likelihood to refer, and one thing I should change For each question, explain WHY I am asking it (what the answer tells me about my business).
Financial Planning (3 Prompts)
Prompt 19: Break-Even Calculator
Calculate my break-even point. Fixed monthly costs: £[amount] (rent, software, insurance, etc.) Variable cost per unit/service: £[amount] Average selling price: £[amount] Tell me: 1. How many units/clients I need per month to break even 2. How many per week and per day 3. What happens if I raise my price by 10% and 20% 4. What happens if I reduce variable costs by 15% 5. My margin per unit at current pricing Present the scenarios in a comparison table. Then tell me the single most impactful lever I can pull to reach profitability faster.
Prompt 20: Cash Flow Forecast
Create a 6-month cash flow forecast for my [business type]. Monthly revenue estimate: £[amount] (month 1), growing [X]% per month Fixed costs: £[list them] Variable costs: [describe — e.g., 30% of revenue] One-off startup costs: £[amount] in month 1 Payment terms: [when customers pay — upfront, net 30, etc.] Show month-by-month: - Revenue in - Costs out - Net cash flow - Cumulative cash position Highlight any months where I go cash-negative and suggest how to prevent it (invoice timing, deposits, cost deferral).
Prompt 21: Pricing Strategy Analyser
Help me set the right price for [product/service]. My costs: £[amount per unit] Competitor prices: [list 3 competitor prices] My target customer: [describe — price-sensitive or value-driven?] My unique advantage: [what I do that competitors do not] Analyse three pricing strategies: 1. Cost-plus (my cost + [X]% margin) 2. Competitor-based (position relative to market) 3. Value-based (price based on outcome delivered) For each, give me the price, the positioning message, and the risk. Recommend one strategy and explain why.
How to Get the Most From These Prompts
A few principles that make all the difference:
Be specific with context. The more detail you put in the brackets, the better the output. "I run a bakery" gets generic answers. "I run a sourdough bakery in Brixton targeting health-conscious professionals aged 28-45" gets useful ones.
Iterate. The first output is a draft. Ask ChatGPT to "make it more specific," "add numbers," or "rewrite this for someone who is sceptical." Each iteration gets sharper.
Use the output as a starting point, not a final product. ChatGPT gives you 80% of the way there in 5% of the time. Your job is the last 20% — adding your experience, your voice, your local knowledge.
Know when ChatGPT is the wrong tool. It is excellent at generating text, ideas, and frameworks. It cannot execute. It cannot send emails to real prospects. It cannot find your next 50 customers. For that, you need tools built for action, not conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use these prompts with Claude or other AI tools, not just ChatGPT?
Absolutely. Every prompt here works with Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or any large language model. The principles are the same: give specific context, ask for structured output, and iterate. I have tested most of these across multiple models and the results are comparable. Claude tends to be slightly better at longer, nuanced outputs. ChatGPT is faster for quick-fire tasks. Use whichever you prefer.
How often should I update my prompts?
Revisit them quarterly. Your business changes, your customers evolve, and the AI models improve. A prompt that worked brilliantly in January might produce stale output by June because your market has shifted. Keep a "prompt library" document and update the context sections as your business grows. The structure of these prompts will stay useful for years. The specific details inside the brackets should be refreshed regularly.
Are AI-generated business plans and financial projections reliable?
They are directionally useful but never precise. ChatGPT does not have access to your local market data, your specific cost structure, or your competitive dynamics unless you provide them. Use AI-generated financial projections as a starting framework, then validate the assumptions with real data. For anything going to a bank or investor, treat the AI output as a first draft and verify every number. The structure will be solid. The specific figures need your human judgment.
Ready to move from planning to execution? The Mira.AI Launch Plan generates your complete business launch strategy in 30 seconds — and MiraReach finds and contacts your first customers automatically.