Artificial intelligence (AI) is all the rage at the moment. The world vibrates at the thought of how AI is going to [insert synonyms for “change everything” here]. But eventually reality gets its shoes on and makes it home: AI works great for certain things if you know how to ask the right questions.
You don’t need a six-figure marketing budget or a $1,500/month software suite. You need $20 and to know how to properly prompt — ask the AI assistant the right questions. Think of ChatGPT and Claude as your new, always-on marketing department that costs less than a decent lunch and doesn’t require a benefits package.
Forget the polished sales pitches from CINC and BoomTown. The real power isn’t in their platforms; it’s in the simple, direct access to intelligence that these $20/month tools provide.
How to fulfill your marketing needs with AI in 2025 (for $20)
This isn’t about “AI-powered lead generation” or other buzzwords vendors use to justify their price tags. This is about the daily grind of marketing that eats up your time.
Your AI department handles the foundational work: drafting listing descriptions that don’t sound like every other agent’s, writing social media posts that get engagement, creating email campaigns that keep you top of mind and researching neighborhood trends that make you sound like the local expert.
The National Association of Realtor’s data shows 32 percent of agents haven’t used AI in their business yet, while only 20 percent use it daily. The gap isn’t technology — it’s clarity. Agents are being sold complex platforms when they should be starting with a simple ChatGPT account and learning how to ask it the right questions.
READ: Your 1st 5 minutes with ChatGPT: A no-fear guide for agents
The daily
A great marketing system turns hours of work into a few minutes of direction. Here’s what that looks like:
Monday morning
“Claude, draft five social media posts for this week promoting my new listing at [address]. Focus on the updated kitchen and the backyard space. Make them conversational, and include a call to action.”
Listing day
“ChatGPT, write three versions of a listing description for [property details]. Version one should be short and punchy for the MLS. Version two should be emotional and story-driven for the brochure. Version three should be a bullet-point summary for flyers.”
Thursday follow-up
“Claude, write a friendly, non-salesy email to my past client database checking in and mentioning the current low inventory in their neighborhood.”
Friday planning
“Perplexity, give me a summary of the latest real estate market trends in [your city] for the last quarter, with a focus on median prices and days on market.”
That’s it, that’s all you need to do to make what used to be tedious work a lot less time-consuming.
Pro tip: AI lies like rugs: My personal advice here is to take some extra time to “check the work.” AI assistants habitually lie and make up random things; it’s called, “hallucinating.” Think of AI assistants as the “ultimate hype men” that promote an idealized version of your topic and you!
Free vs. paid
The free versions of these tools work, but the paid tiers (ChatGPT Plus, Claude Pro) at $20/month each are where real efficiency unlocks. You get priority access during busy times, more advanced reasoning capabilities, and the ability to upload documents — like a property flyer or a market report — and have the AI analyze or rewrite them.
This matters when you’re trying to pull neighborhood data from a PDF, rewrite last year’s market report or edit a listing description you drafted six months ago. The free versions will get you started; the paid versions keep you moving.
Build your machine
The key isn’t having every AI tool; it’s having a reliable go to. Pick one general-purpose AI (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Claude) and one research-focused tool (Perplexity).
Learn their strengths. Claude often writes more natural, conversational copy. ChatGPT excels at structure and following specific formats. Google Gemini can handle massive amounts of documents and not forget. Perplexity is faster for fact-based market research.
Start with listing descriptions. Once that’s smooth, move to social media. Then email campaigns. Then market research. Layer the tools into your existing process instead of trying to overhaul everything at once.
READ: Overwhelmed by AI? Use this step-by-step guide to get started
Prompting
The secret isn’t which tool you choose; it’s learning how to give clear instructions. This isn’t complex coding — it’s just learning to be specific.
Instead of “Write a social media post,” you learn to say, “Write a friendly Instagram post about my new listing in North Oakland, highlight the renovated kitchen with quartz counters, keep it under 200 words, and add relevant hashtags.”
This skill — prompt engineering — is what separates agents who get real value from AI from those who get frustrated and give up. It takes practice, but it’s free to learn. The more specific your instructions, the better your output. Think of it like training a new assistant: Vague direction gets vague results. Clear expectations get clean work.
You can even use an AI to help you write prompts. Simply write, “Act as a prompt generator” and then tell it what you want the assistant to do. For example, “Act as a prompt generator. Please write a prompt for a California based real estate agent.”
The 20 percent of agents using AI daily aren’t paying $900/month for “AI-powered CRMs.” They figured out that Claude writes better listing descriptions than any template, that ChatGPT drafts their social media calendar in 10 minutes, and that Perplexity handles market research faster than any “predictive analytics dashboard.”
Start today
Stop researching, and start doing. Create free accounts with ChatGPT and Claude. For one week, use them for every piece of marketing content you create. The learning curve is shallow, and the time you save in the first week will likely convince you the $20 upgrade is worth it.
Here’s your first assignment: Open ChatGPT right now and type “Write three subject lines for an email to my past clients about the current spring market in [your city].” See what it gives you. Edit it. Send it. You just saved 20 minutes.
Then try “Draft a Facebook post announcing my new listing at [address], focusing on the renovated kitchen and large backyard, keep it friendly and under 150 words.” Edit that. Post it. You just saved another 15 minutes.
Do that every day for a week, and you’ll understand why the agents winning right now aren’t the ones with the fanciest software — they’re the ones who figured out how to offload repetitive work so they can focus on closing deals.
For now
We’ve been sold the idea that effective marketing requires expensive, complex software. The reality is you can fulfill your marketing needs with AI in 2025. The most powerful marketing tool available today costs $20, fits in your browser and works 24/7. The question isn’t whether you can afford it — it’s whether you can afford to keep doing everything the hard way.
This article was updated Dec. 12, 2025.
America Foy is chief real estate and development officer with Where Ever Cogent. Connect with him on LinkedIn or X.
