Most people who use AI tools for marketing get mediocre results because they ask vague questions and get vague answers. The quality of results from any AI tool is almost entirely determined by the quality of what goes into the prompt.
Purchases are rarely as rational as buyers think they are. Emotional motivations play a large role, even in business-to-business decisions. A useful starting point for any piece of marketing copy is to ask the AI: “What are the top emotional triggers that would make [your target audience] choose [your product or service]?”
This kind of prompt, outlined in Search Engine Land’s guide to AI prompts for ad campaigns, prompts the tool to think about the psychological motivations of your customer rather than just listing generic features. The output gives you language and angles you can weave into your ads, website copy and email marketing.
Before a potential customer contacts you, they have usually already talked themselves out of it at least once. Price, uncertainty about whether they need what you offer, concerns about disruption or risk: these objections happen silently before anyone fills in your contact form. A prompt like “What are the most common reasons someone in [your target market] might hesitate before buying [your service], and how would you address each one?” generates content that speaks directly to those barriers.
This is particularly useful for service pages and FAQs, where addressing hesitations directly can make a meaningful difference to how many visitors get in touch.
Different visitors to your website are at different stages of their decision. Someone reading a general overview of a topic is at an earlier stage than someone comparing specific providers. A prompt like “What would someone searching for [keyword] most want to know at each stage of their research?” helps you plan content that serves different levels of intent rather than trying to do everything on one page.
For PPC campaigns in particular, understanding your audience more precisely makes a real difference to how you write ads. A prompt like “Describe the typical person who would search for [keyword], including their situation, what they’re worried about and what they’re hoping to find” produces a more useful audience picture than most demographic data provides.
The output from any of these prompts is a starting point, not a finished piece. The most useful thing you can do after getting a response is edit it to add your own voice, check every factual claim and remove anything generic that doesn’t reflect your actual business. The AI gives you material to work with. You make it yours.
We manage Google Ads campaigns and content strategy for small businesses across England. If you’d like to talk about how AI tools fit into our approach, get in touch with the b:web team in Plymouth to find out more about our SEO and marketing services.
