Marketing prompts and assets

Where South African small businesses actually get customers

Be honest about this before you spend a day making Instagram posts.

For a local service business (plumber, hairdresser, tutor, cleaner, mechanic), most first customers come from a Google Business Profile, WhatsApp, word of mouth, and local Facebook groups. Instagram and TikTok are slow starts.

For a product business selling nationally, Facebook Marketplace, Instagram, and a WhatsApp catalogue usually come first. A full online store is a later step.

Pick two channels. Do those two properly. Being weak on six channels is worse than being good on two.

Do these two things first, before any content

1. Google Business Profile

This is free and it is the highest-value thing a local business can do. When someone searches "plumber near me" in your town, this is what decides whether you appear.

Go to business.google.com(external link). Claim your business. Fill in everything: hours, service area, phone, WhatsApp link, categories, and at least 10 photos.

Then ask every happy customer for a review. Reviews are the single biggest factor in whether you show up above your competitors.

2. WhatsApp Business

Free app, separate from normal WhatsApp. Install it on the business number.

Set up:

• A business profile with your address, hours, and a description
• A catalogue with your products or services and prices
• Quick replies for the three questions you answer every day
• An away message for after hours
• Labels to track leads: New, Quoted, Waiting, Paid

Most South African customers will contact you on WhatsApp whether you invite them to or not. Make that experience good and you will beat competitors who only have a contact form.

Prompt 1: content pillars

Here is my brand brief:

[PASTE YOUR BRAND BRIEF FROM 01-branding-prompts.md]

Here is my brand voice:

[PASTE YOUR VOICE GUIDE]

Give me 5 sets of content pillars. A content pillar is a repeating topic
I post about.

Each set must have exactly 4 pillars. For each pillar give me:
- The pillar name
- Why my specific customers care about it
- Three example post ideas

Make the 5 sets genuinely different in approach. At least one set must be
built around things I can photograph with a phone while working, with no
planning.

Remember I am one person with no time and no budget.

Number the sets 1 to 5. After the 5 sets, stop. Ask me which set is
closest and what I would change.

Prompt 2: a month of posts

Run this after you choose your pillars.

My content pillars are:

[PASTE THE 4 PILLARS YOU CHOSE]

My brand voice is:

[PASTE YOUR VOICE GUIDE]

I am a [BUSINESS TYPE] in [TOWN/CITY], South Africa.

Write me 12 posts for one month. That is 3 posts a week.

For each post give me:
- Which pillar it belongs to
- The caption, ready to paste, maximum 60 words
- What photo or video to take, described so I can shoot it on my phone
 in under 5 minutes
- 5 hashtags that a South African customer would actually search
- One line telling the reader what to do next

Rules:
- Simple English
- South African spelling and money in rands
- No emojis on every line, maximum two per post
- Do not invent claims, statistics, or customer stories
- Mention load shedding, weather, or local events only if it is genuinely
 relevant to what I sell

Spread the 12 posts across the pillars evenly.

Prompt 3: WhatsApp messages you send every week

I am a [BUSINESS TYPE] in South Africa. My brand voice is:

[PASTE YOUR VOICE GUIDE]

Write me short WhatsApp message templates for these 8 situations. Each
one must be under 60 words, polite, and easy to read on a phone.

1. Someone asks "how much?" and I need more information before quoting
2. Sending a quote
3. Following up on a quote after 3 days with no reply
4. Confirming a booking with date, time, and address
5. Reminding a customer the day before
6. Telling a customer I am running late
7. Asking for payment politely when an invoice is overdue
8. Asking for a Google review after a job went well

Use [SQUARE BRACKETS] for anything I must fill in.

Give me each message twice: once in English and once in a warmer, less
formal tone.

Save these as Quick Replies in WhatsApp Business. You will use them every day.

Prompt 4: your Google Business Profile description

I am a [BUSINESS TYPE] serving [AREAS] in South Africa.

What I do: [DESCRIBE IN YOUR OWN WORDS]
What makes me different: [DESCRIBE]

Write 5 different Google Business Profile descriptions.

Rules:
- Maximum 700 characters each
- Include the words a customer would actually type into Google
- Name the areas I serve
- No marketing language
- Say what to do next

Also give me a list of the Google Business categories I should choose,
primary and secondary.

Number them 1 to 5. After the 5 options, stop.

Prompt 5: answering the questions that stop a sale

I am a [BUSINESS TYPE] in South Africa selling [PRODUCT OR SERVICE] at
around [PRICE].

List the 10 questions or worries that most often stop a South African
customer from buying from a small, unknown business like mine.

For each one, write a short answer I can use on WhatsApp, on my price
list, and on social media. Under 40 words each.

Be honest. Do not write answers that make promises I cannot keep.

Then tell me which three of these I should answer publicly, before the
customer even asks.

This one is usually the most useful prompt in this file. The answers become your FAQ, your sales script, and half your content.

Making the images

Free tools:

• Canva free plan — social templates, sizes already set, brand colours saveable
• Photopea — free in the browser, opens PSD files
• GIMP — free desktop photo editor
• Your phone camera — better than any stock photo for a local business

Advice: real photos of your real work beat designed graphics almost every time for a small local business. A clear photo of a finished job, taken in daylight, outperforms a polished graphic from a template.

Keep image files small. Many of your customers pay for data by the megabyte. Export social images under 500 KB.

What to ignore in your first year

Paid advertising. Do not spend money on ads until you know exactly which message converts. Organic posts and a Google Business Profile teach you that for free.

Posting daily. Three good posts a week beats seven rushed ones. Nobody is counting.

Being on every platform. If you are not going to answer messages on a platform within a day, do not open an account there.

A blog. Only worth it if search traffic is genuinely how your customers find your kind of business, and only if you will write it for a year.

Buying followers or joining engagement groups. It damages your reach and it sells nothing.

The one metric that matters

Count how many people contacted you this month, and how many of those bought.

Not likes. Not followers. Enquiries and sales.

Write these two numbers down every month in the same spreadsheet where you track money. After three months you will know which channel is actually working, and you can stop doing the other one.