The 15-Minute Win: Write a Month of Email Newsletters with One ChatGPT Prompt

Most small business owners know they should be sending newsletters. They just never do. Not because they don’t have anything to say, they’ve got product updates, staff news, customer wins. They just sit down to write and it feels like too much. So it goes in the “I’ll do it properly later” pile, and later never comes.

Here’s what changes everything: you don’t write four newsletters. You write one prompt. That prompt produces four drafts in a single sitting. The writing is already done. All you’re doing is cleaning it up.

The prompt

Copy this into ChatGPT (free or Plus), fill in the brackets, and hit send:

You are a helpful copywriter for a small Australian business. Write 4 email newsletter drafts for [MONTH] [YEAR].

Business type: [e.g. plumbing business / boutique clothing store / bookkeeping practice]
Target audience: [e.g. homeowners in Brisbane / women aged 30–55 / small business owners in regional NSW]
Tone: [e.g. friendly and casual / professional but approachable / warm and direct]

Each newsletter should be around [200–250 words] and cover one of the following topics:
- Week 1: [e.g. A seasonal tip relevant to your industry]
- Week 2: [e.g. A product or service spotlight]
- Week 3: [e.g. A customer story or result]
- Week 4: [e.g. An upcoming promotion, event, or reminder]

End each newsletter with a clear call to action: [e.g. "Book a free quote," "Shop the new range," "Reply to this email," "Download the free guide"].

Format each draft with a subject line, a short preview text (45 words max), and the body copy. Number each draft clearly.

That’s the whole prompt. Run it once and you’ve got four newsletter drafts ready to review.

How to customise it for your business

The prompt works as-is, but it gets sharper when you put in real detail. A few examples of what swapping in specifics looks like:

• Tradie or trades business: Business type = “residential electrician in Melbourne.” Topics might be safety reminder before summer storms, a job show (rewired a heritage home in Fitzroy), a 5-star Google review, and a reminder that Christmas booking spots are limited.
• Boutique or retail: Business type = “women’s clothing boutique in Canberra.” Tone = “warm and personal, like texting a friend.” Week 3 becomes a customer style story. Week 4 is the mid-season sale.
• Professional services (accountant, bookkeeper, consultant): Keep the tone professional but not stiff. Audiences respond to “here’s something that could save you money” over “we are pleased to inform you.” Your Week 1 tip practically writes itself at tax time.
• Café or hospitality: Your newsletters can be shorter, 150 words is plenty. Topics might be a new seasonal item, behind-the-scenes content (who makes the sourdough), a loyalty reminder, and an upcoming event.

If you have a specific event in July, a sale, a workshop, a product launch, drop it straight into Week 4’s topic. ChatGPT will build the copy around it.

What to do with the drafts

Once you’ve got your four drafts, open whichever email platform you use, MailerLite is popular with Australian small businesses, and Klaviyo is the pick if you’re running eCommerce. Mailchimp still works fine for a basic list.

Paste each draft in. Read it once and make three kinds of edits:

1. Fix anything that sounds off, if a sentence doesn’t sound like you, rewrite it in your own words.
2. Add one personal touch per email. What actually happened this week? A tricky job that went well, a customer who sent a thank-you, something funny that happened on site. One or two sentences. That’s the bit that makes people actually read newsletters.
3. Check the call to action is specific. “Book a quote” beats “contact us.” “Reply to this email” beats “get in touch.”

Schedule all four. Done.

The 15-minute breakdown

• Writing the prompt (3 min), fill in your business type, audience, tone, and four topics
• Reviewing the output (7 min), read all four drafts, mark anything that needs tweaking
• Light edits and personalisation (5 min), fix the off-sentences, add your personal touch to each one, check the CTAs

That’s a full month of newsletters. One sitting.

Tools

• ChatGPT (free tier works fine; Plus gives you faster responses and access to GPT-4o)
• Claude (Anthropic’s model, also works well for email copy, often slightly more conversational)
• MailerLite (free up to 1,000 subscribers; widely used by Australian small businesses)
• Klaviyo (better for eCommerce, connects to Shopify and WooCommerce)
• Mailchimp (free plan available; good starting point if you’re not sure yet)

Sources

• ChatGPT, OpenAI
• Claude, Anthropic
• MailerLite pricing and features
• Klaviyo pricing
• Mailchimp pricing

This is part of the 15-Minute Win series, quick, practical AI wins for Australian small businesses.

More practical guides: How-To Hub →

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