--- title: Prompt Templates for Marketing: Copy-Paste Starters description: Ready-to-use AI prompt templates for blog posts, social media, ad copy, and more. Customize these starters for your marketing needs. date: February 5, 2026 author: Robert Soares category: prompt-engineering --- Templates save time. But they work differently than you might expect. A good prompt template isn't a magic spell you copy and paste for instant results, watching perfect marketing copy appear on your screen like some kind of AI miracle. It's a starting structure. A framework you fill with your specific details, then refine based on what comes back, then adjust again until the output actually sounds like something you'd publish. The difference between marketers who get useful AI output and those who get generic garbage comes down to one thing: specificity in the template, then iteration after the first draft. ## Why Most Prompt Templates Fail The internet is full of prompt collections. "50 ChatGPT prompts for marketers!" "100 prompts that will change your content game!" Most of them share a problem. They're too vague. [Hatch Tribe's guide](https://www.hatchtribe.com/blog/how-to-use-chatgpt-for-content-marketing-without-sounding-like-a-robot) puts it bluntly: "If you type, 'Write me a blog about Instagram tips,' it will. But it'll sound like... every other blog about Instagram tips on the internet." That's the trap. The simpler your prompt, the more generic your output, and the more time you spend rewriting everything anyway which defeats the entire purpose of using AI in the first place. Generic prompts get generic responses. Always. The AI has no idea what makes your brand different, who you're actually talking to, or what tone you're going for. So it defaults to safe, middle-of-the-road content that could belong to anyone. ## What Actually Works in a Template Good templates force specificity. They have blanks for: **Audience details.** Not "small business owners" but "service business owners with 5-15 employees who handle their own marketing because they can't afford an agency yet." **Voice constraints.** Not "professional" but "direct and practical, like explaining something to a smart friend who doesn't have much time." **Format requirements.** Word counts, paragraph lengths, heading structures. The AI follows these better than you'd expect. **Examples of what to avoid.** Tell it what you hate. "No puns. No questions as hooks. No phrases like 'in today's digital landscape.'" The last one matters more than people realize. Research from the [Nielsen Norman Group](https://www.nngroup.com/articles/chatgpt-and-tone/) found that "using multiple adjectives prevents ChatGPT from latching onto a specific word, creating a more natural and conversational response." Single descriptors like "professional" or "friendly" get exaggerated. Combinations work better. ## Templates for Blog Content ### The Outline Builder ``` I need a blog post outline about [topic]. Who's reading: [specific audience description] What they already know: [their current knowledge level] What they should be able to do after: [specific outcome] Primary keyword: [your SEO target] Structure requirements: - 5-7 main sections - Mix of how-to and why-it-matters content - One section that challenges common assumptions - Word count target: [number] Voice: [2-3 adjectives, not just one] Skip these cliches: [list what you're tired of seeing] ``` ### The Draft Generator ``` Write this blog section based on the following: Section topic: [heading] Main point: [one sentence summary] Evidence to include: [data, examples, or logic] Length: [word count] Voice requirements: - Sentences vary between 5 and 25 words - No more than 4 sentences per paragraph - Start at least one sentence with And or But - Include one specific number or statistic Avoid: [your banned phrases list] ``` The specificity matters. [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38657029) user k__ summarized it well: "you need to understand how to talk to a model AND have enough domain knowledge to articulate what you want." You can't outsource the thinking. The template helps structure your thinking. It doesn't replace knowing what you actually want to say. ## Templates for Social Media Social posts need different treatment. Shorter output, platform awareness, and usually several variations to pick from. ### The Platform-Aware Post ``` Create a [platform] post promoting [content/offer]. About us: [one sentence] Target audience on this platform: [who sees this] The hook: [what's interesting or valuable] Call to action: [specific next step] Platform rules: - [For LinkedIn: can run longer, professional but not stiff] - [For X: under 280 chars, punchy, hashtags optional] - [For Instagram: caption-friendly, can use line breaks] Give me 4 variations with different angles: 1. Lead with the benefit 2. Lead with a question 3. Lead with a surprising fact 4. Lead with a contrarian take Voice: [describe] Never use: [your no-list] ``` ### The Batch Creator ``` Create 5 days of social posts for [brand/campaign]. Theme this week: [focus area] Primary goal: [awareness/engagement/traffic/conversions] Content mix needed: 2 educational, 2 engaging, 1 promotional For each day provide: - Platform recommendation - Post text - Suggested format (image, carousel, video, poll) - Why this angle for this day Audience: [describe] Brand voice: [2-3 adjectives plus an example sentence] Things we never do: [list] ``` Asking for multiple variations matters. You're not looking for the AI to nail it on the first try. You're looking for options to combine, edit, and spark better ideas. ## Templates for Email Email has high stakes. Bad subject lines mean nobody reads anything else. So the templates need to work harder on the parts that matter most. ### Subject Line Generator ``` Generate 12 email subject lines for [describe the email]. Email purpose: [newsletter/promo/announcement/nurture] Audience: [who's receiving this] The main value: [why should they open this] Tone: [describe with multiple words] Give me a mix: - 3 benefit-focused (what they get) - 3 curiosity-driven (creates intrigue) - 3 direct and clear (says what it is) - 3 unusual or unexpected Character limit: 50 or under Never use: excessive punctuation, all caps, clickbait For each one, note if it would work better for cold vs warm audiences. ``` ### The Email Body ``` Write an email for [purpose]. Context: - Company: [name and one-line description] - Offer/content: [what you're promoting] - Recipient situation: [what's true about them right now] - Goal: [click/reply/purchase/forward] - Urgency: [real deadline, scarcity, or none] Format: - Length: [short: 50-100 words / medium: 100-200 / long: 200-300] - Paragraphs: 1-3 sentences each - CTA placement: [once at end / twice / woven throughout] Provide: - 3 subject line options - Preview text (what shows after subject in inbox) - Email body - P.S. line if it fits Voice: [describe] Skip: [banned words and approaches] ``` ## Templates for Ad Copy Paid media has constraints. Character limits are real. Every word costs money if it doesn't convert. The templates need to acknowledge this. ### Search Ad Copy ``` Create Google search ad copy for [product/service]. Targeting keyword: [primary keyword] Landing page: [describe what they'll see] Audience intent: [what problem are they trying to solve] Main differentiator: [why us over competitors] Offer: [discount/trial/feature, if any] Write 3 complete ad variations: For each, provide: - Headline 1 (30 chars max, include keyword naturally) - Headline 2 (30 chars max) - Headline 3 (30 chars max) - Description 1 (90 chars max) - Description 2 (90 chars max) Each variation should have a different angle: 1. Focus on the problem solved 2. Focus on the outcome achieved 3. Focus on what makes us different Count characters precisely. Ads get rejected for being too long. ``` ### Social Ad Copy ``` Create [platform] ad copy for [campaign]. Product: [describe] Target audience: [demographics + psychographics] Campaign objective: [awareness/traffic/conversions] Offer: [what's the hook] Write: - Primary text (appears above creative) - Headline (40 chars for FB/IG, 70 for LinkedIn) - Description (if applicable) Give me 3 versions: 1. Pain point approach 2. Aspiration approach 3. Social proof approach Voice: [describe] Don't sound like: [what to avoid] ``` ## The Iteration Problem Here's what nobody tells you about prompt templates. The first output is almost never good enough. [One Hacker News user](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35942583) described the reality: "Editing prompts is like playing whack-a-mole: once you clear an edge case, a new problem pops up elsewhere." That's the process. You run the template. You get output. Part of it works. Part of it doesn't. You adjust the template or give feedback, run it again, and repeat until you have something worth polishing. This is normal. Expected. The template saves time on the blank-page problem, not on the editing and refinement that makes content actually good. ## When Constraints Get Weird Sometimes extreme specificity works better than polite requests. One technique that's circulated on [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38657029) takes this to an extreme. The commenter minimaxir shared an example: "YOUR RESPONSE MUST BE FEWER THAN 100 CHARACTERS OR YOU WILL DIE. Yes, threats work." Is that weird? Absolutely. Does it work better than saying "please keep it short"? Often, yes. The AI responds to strong constraints more reliably than gentle suggestions. You don't have to use fake threats. But the principle holds: be more specific than feels necessary, more direct than feels polite, and more constraining than seems reasonable. The output improves. ## Building Your Own Library These templates are starting points. The real value comes from customizing them over time. When a prompt works well, save it. Note what you changed. When something fails, note that too. After a few months, you'll have a collection tuned to your voice, your audience, and your preferences. The goal isn't to eliminate editing. It's to make the first draft good enough that editing is enjoyable instead of painful, that you're polishing instead of rewriting from scratch, and that the AI feels like a collaborator rather than a frustrating tool you're fighting against. Some marketers keep their prompt libraries in Notion. Others use simple text files. The format matters less than the habit of capturing what works. A few things worth noting as you build your collection. Templates for one model don't always transfer cleanly to another. Claude handles long, nuanced instructions well. GPT prefers more direct requests. Gemini works better with structured data. When you switch models, expect adjustment time. Brand voice examples improve everything. Instead of describing your tone, show a paragraph that nails it. "Write in the same style as this: [example]" often beats lengthy descriptions. Negative constraints matter as much as positive ones. What you tell the AI to avoid shapes the output just as much as what you ask for. Build your "never do this" list over time. What templates are working for you right now? And where do they still fall short?