If you’ve just started a business, you might not have unlimited resources. Chances are, you can’t hire a marketing manager, an assistant, and a bunch of agencies to represent you across various social media platforms. Instead, you’re being frugal with cash and smart with where you spend your time.

The plethora of AI tools out there, if utilised correctly, can mark a huge asset for any startup. Whereas once some tasks would have taken a week’s worth of work and an army of freelancers, now they take a few well-crafted prompts and some creative thinking from you as the company founder.

ChatGPT, as the tool that seemed to start it all, can mark a big advantage for startups who learn how to prompt effectively. In five core areas, it can supercharge your business and make you more money in less time.

Here’s how to make ChatGPT prompting your startup superpower.

Content generation and marketing

For gaining visibility and credibility in your industry, a strong content strategy is key. The story you tell and where you tell it can win you followers, fans and ultimately, new business. Smart startups are using ChatGPT to help create content such as blog posts, social media updates and marketing copy. Inexperienced prompters are getting generic copy. Those in the know are training the tool to write in their style, avoid fluffy guidance, and ideate on catchy headlines that will keep their audience clicking through.

To generate content you’re proud to promote, learn how to prompt in the most effective way. Copy and paste this prompt and edit to suit your requirements.

“My business is [describe your business] and my target audience is [describe your target audience in detail]. Their biggest fears are [describe them here] and their deepest desires are [describe them here]. The style and tone of my company is [describe that here]. Given these, please suggest 5 titles for articles on the topic of [topic] that might appeal to my target audience. For each one, give bullet points of the subheadings the article could contain.”

See what ChatGPT produces, ask for edits, and even get help writing the entire article.

Customer support

Great customer service can do wonders for your retention rate and brand image. Being able to diffuse angry clients and surprise and delight new users will grow the number of ambassadors for your company. With due care, ChatGPT can be integrated into your customer service platforms to handle frequently asked questions, provide faster resolutions and free up human resources for more complex issues.

By developing a branded, AI-powered chatbots based on your content as a company or individual entrepreneur, you can add value to your audience while you’re doing other things. Short of that, try this simple prompt in ChatGPT and see how you can improve the responses you give.

“My company often receives the following question: [enter common question here]. Can you generate a polite, friendly and helpful response that includes the information: [specific information to include].”

Save your responses in a swipe file so you can access them super fast, or embed a chat on your homepage to help your customers help themselves.

Market research and data analysis

Data-driven decision making plays a crucial role in the success of a startup. Don’t leave decisions on new product lines, website copy or hiring to gut feel or anecdotes. Use data, statistics and logic to spot the trends that emotional humans will miss. ChatGPT’s Code Interpreter can quickly summarise customer reviews, market trends or survey data, offering a quicker way to insights that will make a difference.

Fire up Code Interpreter, upload your file, and ask ChatGPT questions about the data.

“I’m uploading a database of [what you’re uploading, for example customer reviews]. Our goals as a business are to [summarize your goals]. Can you draw out insights and trends about [topics you want to know more about] so that I can [purpose of this analysis, for example expanding a product range or creating new website copy].

Internal communication and collaboration

If you don’t have distinct departments within your business, each member of the team might wear multiple hats. Flitting between different roles within a day means effective communication matters. Telling your team what you’re focused on means they’re not left guessing which deliverables are your responsibility. ChatGPT can help draft internal memos, team emails, or assist mind-mapping sessions. It can be your useful assistant, helping you task-switch like a pro.

Task ChatGPT with admin tasks with the following prompt. This prompt has many uses, so save it somewhere to use again and again.

“Draft an email update to my team about [project status or milestone], where you explain that [information to include]. Share the next steps I will take, of [include them here] and tell them what I need from them, which is [include that here].”

It doesn’t need to be a secret that you’re using ChatGPT to write this memo. If anything, your team will be impressed at your efficient use of time.

Product development and feature ideation

Move fast or become irrelevant. That’s the very real situation for most startups out there. Trends come and go, human behaviour changes, and what was once a growing industry starts to mature and decline. Stay ahead of the curve by developing and iterating in a better way. ChatGPT can be used as your ideation partner, for coming up with new features, improvements to your existing offering, or even an entirely new product.

Give it a role, task it with some critical thinking, and see what it thinks of that you might not have considered.

“My business is [describe your business] and our flagship product or service is [describe your most popular offering.] I want to [your goals, for example to expand your range, explore new markets or sell more to existing customers] and want ideas on how to do this. Play the role of a business analyst and come up with a list of [describe what you want, for example new features or new products] that will solve the problem of [describe the problem you solve and for whom].”

Prompt and re-prompt, asking for more innovative ideas as your appetite for them increases.

How startups can prompt ChatGPT like a pro

If you can learn to prompt effectively, you can unlock the power of a large language model in carrying out tasks that might have previously cost you extra time or money. Even if you end up outsourcing elements of the work, you can get a lot closer to the final product when you prepare in collaboration with ChatGPT.

Start small but think big, incorporating AI tools (ChatGPT is just a starting point) into your operations wherever possible. Generate ideas for content and marketing, support your customers in innovative ways, conduct market research, analyse data, communicate effectively and develop new features. Supercharge your startup in these five core areas.