The Secret to Using ChatGPT for Small Business Marketing

Patrick McFadden • May 4, 2023

There are countless blogs, websites, articles and even podcasts dedicated to the topic of "how to use chatgpt for marketing" or "chatgpt prompts for marketing".


99% of the advice, guidance, and tips I've come across default to tactics or focus on things such as chatgpt prompts for digital marketing, chatgpt for marketing content social media and pr, chatgpt for marketing automation or an exhausted list of ways ChatGPT can be used.


All good and essential things for sure, but I’ve been doing small business marketing for some time and the race to use the technology to its full potential, create content quickly, and save time fails to take into account this underlying truth.


A process approach to developing and installing your marketing is the secret to success.


I don’t mean to oversimplify here, but how you develop your marketing and install your marketing must be your first goal. Do this, and chances are everything else takes care of itself – or at least the time you spend on using ChatGPT for marketing will become amplified.


When you don’t have a repeatable process approach to dictate  how your marketing is developed and installed, then you’re just going to hope, guess, spray and pray about what tasks, tactics, and most importantly chatgpt prompts for marketing you should be using.


Let Me Explain:

The Indispensable Marketing Process is our repeatable process. It relies heavily on the idea of placing strategy before tactics; we call our approach diagnosis before prescription. We help our clients understand who their ideal client is, what their message of differentiation and problems they solve are, and then use marketing channels to promote that strategy. All of this is mapped out over the customer journey.


Any client that interacts or engages us gets a variation of this repeatable process approach to marketing. After that, we get into Launch Grow and Amplify—our approach for activating a marketing strategy plan through a installation process.


This allows us to have a repeatable process that simply isn’t using commonplace tactics on all clients without adjusting it to their specific needs. In reality, 85% of our small business clients need the same 85% of small business marketing services. They just need those marketing services applied in slightly different ways and at different stages, depending on the specifics of their business and their core strengths.


How Does This Help You Use ChatGPT For Marketing?

With a repeatable process approach to marketing you can now determine and identity the chatgpt marketing prompts that align with your workflow.


Using our "diagnosis before prescription" repeatable process I'm going to layout how this framework allows you to use chatgpt for marketing success. This process requires all clients to identify, develop or update these strategy elements:


  • a narrow focus on ideal customers - here you would use a ChatGPT prompt to understand your customer
  • a true understanding of the problems you solve - here you would use a ChatGPT prompt to summarize customer feedback
  • a message of difference that is valued - here you would use a ChatGPT prompt to create messages based on the customer feedback summary
  • a marketing process that matches the buying process - here you would use a ChatGPT prompt to develop a customer journey map
  • the resources to effectively implement campaigns and activities  - here you would use a ChatGPT prompt to outline a calendar 


I’m not suggesting that you throw the 190 ChatGPT Prompts Marketers Should Use, 40+ ChatGPT prompts for marketing, or 500-Plus ChatGPT Prompts for Marketers best practices out the window but I am suggesting that you create or adopt a process approach for how you develop and install marketing in order  to achieve real marketing success.


Contact Your Marketing Consultant at Indispensable Marketing

If you’re a service based business that needs help with installing a marketing process or your company’s online presence on Google and other search engines, at Indispensable Marketing we can help. We offer marketing strategy consulting, marketing audits, monthly marketing packages, consultations, exploratory calls or monthly local SEO services. Contact us for more information.

The Missing Layer in AI: Why Judgment, Not Just Data, Will Define the Next Era of Intelligence

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Everyone is scaling outputs. Almost no one is scaling judgment.

Everyone Talks About AI Judgment. We Built It.

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
Ask anyone in tech where AI is headed, and they’ll tell you: “The next leap is reasoning.” “AI needs judgment.” “We need assistants that think, not just answer.” They’re right. But while everyone’s talking about it, almost no one is actually shipping it. So we did. We built Thinking OS™ —a system that doesn’t just help AI answer questions… It helps AI think like a strategist. It helps AI decide like an operator. It helps teams and platforms scale judgment, n ot just generate output. The Theory Isn’t New. The Implementation Is. The idea of layering strategic thinking and judgment into AI isn’t new in theory. The problem is, no one’s been able to implement it effectively at scale. Let’s look at the current landscape. 1. Big Tech Has the Muscle—But Not the Mind OpenAI / ChatGPT ✅ Strength: Best-in-class language generation ❌ Limitation: No built-in judgment or reasoning. You must provide the structure. Otherwise, it follows instructions, not strategy. Google DeepMind / Gemini ✅ Known for advanced decision-making (e.g., AlphaGo) ❌ But only in structured environments like games—not messy, real-world business scenarios. Anthropic (Claude), Meta (LLaMA), Microsoft Copilot ✅ Great at answering questions and following commands ❌ But they’re assistants, not advisors. They won’t reprioritize. They won’t challenge your assumptions. They don’t ask: “Is this the right move?” These tools are powerful—but they don’t think for outcomes the way a strategist or operator would. 2. Who’s Actually Building the Thinking Layer™? This is where it gets interesting—and thin. Startups and Indie Builders Some small teams are quietly: Creating custom GPTs that mimic how experts reason Layering in business context, priorities, and tradeoffs Embedding decision logic so AI can guide, not just execute But these efforts are: Highly manual Difficult to scale Fragmented and experimental Enterprise Experiments A few companies (Salesforce, HubSpot, and others) are exploring more “judgment-aware” AI copilots. These systems can: Flag inconsistencies Recommend next actions Occasionally surface priorities based on internal logic But most of it is still: In early R&D Custom-coded Unproven beyond narrow use cases That’s Why Thinking OS™ Is Different Instead of waiting for a lab to crack it, we built a modular thinking system that installs like infrastructure. Thinking OS™: Captures how real experts reason Embeds judgment into layers AI can use Deploys into tools like ChatGPT or enterprise systems Helps teams think together, consistently, at scale It’s not another assistant. It’s the missing layer that turns outputs into outcomes. So… Is This a New Innovation? Yes—in practice. Everyone says AI needs judgment. But judgment isn’t an idea. It’s a system. It requires: Persistent memory Contextual awareness Tradeoff evaluation Value-based decisions Strategy that evolves with goals Thinking OS™ delivers that. And unlike the R&D experiments in Big Tech, it’s built for: Operators Consultants Platform founders Growth-stage teams that need to scale decision quality, not just content creation If Someone Told You They’ve Built a Thinking + Judgment Layer™… They’ve built something only a handful of people in the world are even attempting. Because this isn’t just AI that speaks fluently. It’s AI that reasons, reflects , and chooses. And in a world that’s drowning in tools, judgment becomes the differentiator. That’s the OS We Built Thinking OS™ is not a prompt pack. It’s not a dashboard. It’s not a glorified chatbot. It’s a decision architecture you can license, embed, or deploy— To help your team, your platform, or your clients think better at scale. We’ve moved past content. We’re building cognition. Let’s talk.

We Found the Missing Layer AI Has Been Waiting For

By Patrick McFadden • May 2, 2025
In every era of innovation, there’s a silent bottleneck—something obvious in hindsight, but elusive until the moment it clicks. In today’s AI-driven world, that bottleneck is clear: AI has speed. It has scale. But it doesn’t have judgment . It doesn’t really think . What’s Actually Missing From AI? When experts talk about the “thinking and judgment layer” as the next leap for AI, they’re calling out a hard truth: Modern AI systems are powerful pattern machines. But they’re missing the human layer—the one that reasons, weighs tradeoffs, and makes strategic decisions in context. Let’s break that down: 1. The Thinking Layer = Reasoning with Purpose This layer doesn’t just process inputs— it structures logic. It’s the ability to: Ask the right questions before acting Break down complexity into solvable parts Adjust direction mid-course when reality changes Think beyond “what was asked” to uncover “what really matters” Today’s AI responds. But it rarely reflects. Unless told exactly what to do, it won’t work through problems the way a strategist or operator would. 2. The Judgment Layer = Decision-Making in the Gray Judgment is the ability to: Prioritize what matters most Choose between imperfect options Make decisions when there’s no clear answer Apply values, experience, and vision—not just data It’s why a founder might not pursue a lucrative deal. Why a marketer might ignore the click-through rate. Why a strategist knows when the timing isn’t right. AI doesn’t do this well. Not yet. Because judgment requires more than data—it requires discernment . Why This Is the Bottleneck Holding Back AI AI can write. It can summarize. It can automate. But it still can’t: Diagnose the real problem behind the question Evaluate tradeoffs like a founder or operator would Recommend a path based on context, constraints, and conviction AI today is still reactive. It follows instructions. But it doesn’t lead. It doesn’t guide. It doesn’t own the outcome. And for those building serious systems—whether you’re running a company, launching a platform, or leading a team—this is the wall you eventually hit. That’s Why We Built Thinking OS™ We stopped waiting for AI to learn judgment on its own. Instead, we created a system that embeds it—by design. Thinking OS™ is an installable decision layer that captures how top founders, strategists, and operators think… …and makes that thinking repeatable , scalable , and usable inside teams, tools, and platforms. It’s not a framework. It’s not a chatbot. It’s not another playbook. It’s the layer that knows how to: Think through complex decisions Apply judgment when rules don’t help Guide others —human or AI—toward strategic outcomes This Is the Missing Infrastructure Thinking OS™ isn’t just about better answers. It’s about better thinking—made operational. And that’s what’s been missing in AI, consulting, leadership development, and platform design. If you’re trying to scale expertise, install judgment, or move from tactical to strategic… You don’t need a faster AI. You need a thinking layer that knows what to do—and why. We built it. Let’s talk.
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