How to Advertise on Pinterest for Small Businesses

You need clear steps for how to advertise on pinterest for small businesses so your brand reaches people who are ready to buy. This platform blends search and social discovery — keywords send visitors to your website, while beautiful Pins and video stop the scroll and spark action.

I’ve seen brands turn intent into sales with smart pinterest marketing that pairs simple creative with tight targeting. Analytics, a business account, and the Pinterest tag make tracking and retargeting straightforward — essentials before you spend on ads.

Key Takeaways

• Pinterest mixes search behavior with social discovery — great for product-led marketing.
• A business account unlocks analytics, video, tags, and ad tools you’ll need.
• Use keywords and compelling pins to reach users with purchase intent.
• Start with clear measurement and modest budgets; adjust using auction benchmarks.
• Formats matter — choose pin, video, shopping, or carousel based on the product and goal.

Why Pinterest is a powerful place for small business advertising right now

People come to Pinterest ready to plan—they pin ideas, compare products, and return while deciding. That planning behavior means intent is higher than on many feeds, so limited budgets often stretch further when content meets real need.

Look at the data: 89% of US pinners research purchases and 83% have bought from content they found here. Those numbers show a clear path from discovery to sales, which is why many retailers report up to 2x higher ROAS versus other social media.

“Pins act like search results you can save — shorter paths from inspiration to checkout.”

That dual nature—search engine style queries plus social browsing—gives you two reach paths: appear in search results or show up in the home feed while people browse categories. Because pins are keyword-indexed and clickable, your content can drive qualified traffic with less friction.

Practical tip: map offers to life moments—bundles, checklists, and seasonal guides perform well. Focus on clear visuals, readable on-image text, and landing pages that deliver — this maximizes saves, clicks, and measurable returns with modest spend.

Get your foundation right: set up and brand your Pinterest business account

Setting up a business account correctly saves time and unlocks measurement from day one. Create or convert a profile — it’s free and fast. A pinterest business account opens analytics, visual search, native video, and ads so you can see what content and pins move people.

Switching or creating a business account

Convert an existing personal account to keep followers, boards, and pins. Or create a fresh pinterest business account and claim your identity. Either path gives you access to ads and reporting without losing momentum.

Brand consistency: profile photo, bio, boards, and website claim

Brand your profile like a storefront — high‑res logo or headshot, keyword-rich bio, clear contact info, and curated boards that mirror buyer journeys. Keep board names simple and searchable so customers find your products on this platform.

Verifying your site and enabling the Pinterest tag

Claim your website by adding the meta tag or uploading the HTML file in settings. Then install the Pinterest tag — base code sitewide plus event codes for add-to-cart, sign-up, and purchase — so you can attribute sales, build retargeting lists, and use data-driven marketing.

Get started now — block 60–90 minutes: switch the account, claim the website, install the tag, update branding, and publish at least five quality Pins. Add scheduling tools later to keep a steady cadence.

Understand how people use Pinterest so your ads fit the platform

Think of Pinterest as a planning board where useful visuals live longer than a single scroll. Pins are visual bookmarks: users save them to themed boards that map to ideas, projects, and life moments. That saving behavior extends the useful life of your media far beyond a single session.

Engagement drives distribution. Saves, close-ups, clicks, and comments tell the platform which content deserves more reach. Create Pins people want to keep — not just glance at — and you earn sustained exposure.

Pins, boards, and engagement behaviors that drive distribution

• Pins should solve one problem or inspire one idea — treat each like a tiny landing page.
• Boards act as planning hubs: name them for moments (“Dorm Room Ideas,” “Fall Home Refresh”).
• Distribution metrics: saves, clicks, and comments push content into feeds and search results.

Where ads appear: home feed, search results, and related categories

Your ads can show in the home feed (browsing), search results (clear intent), and related categories (adjacent discovery). Tailor creative and copy for each spot — browsing creative is thumb-stopping; search creative answers queries fast.

Practical note: batch Pins weekly, favor vertical formats, clear on-image text, and one call-to-action. This keeps your account active without overwhelming your team and makes your marketing more consistent over time.

How to advertise on pinterest for small businesses

Begin in Ads Manager where a clear objective will steer bidding and delivery. This section lays out the simple process you can follow in one session.

Choose the right campaign objective for your goal

Pick sales if you want conversions or clicks if you need qualified traffic. The objective sets optimization, bidding, and delivery — so start with the business result you need.

Select or create the best Pin to promote

Use Analytics to find Pins with the most saves and clicks over the past 30 days. Or create a fresh Pin that highlights one product and a single promise.

Tight message tips: one product per Pin, a bold on-image headline, and a direct URL that matches the offer on your website.

Pick ad locations and run dates, then publish

Include search results for intent and the home feed for discovery. Set run dates to match promotions or seasonal demand.

• Start with an automated campaign for quick learnings; move to advanced when you need custom targeting.
• Layer in basic keywords and interests, set a modest daily budget for 7–10 days, and name campaigns clearly.
• Verify your website and product availability before publishing — broken links kill performance.

Publish, then check performance after 72 hours. Give the system time to learn before making major changes. This keeps your marketing efficient and scalable.

Know your ad formats: choose the creative that matches your offer

Your creative choice should reflect the shopper’s mindset — are they browsing inspiration or ready to buy? Pick a format that answers that question and aligns with your objective.

Standard / Idea Pins are the workhorse. They mix images and short video, allow stickers and music, and shine for step-by-step ideas, checklists, or before/after product demos.

Video Pins drive attention — aim for 6–15 seconds. Lead with movement, use on-frame text, and design for silent viewing since many people scroll with sound off.

Premiere Spotlight is the big stage: full-width mobile placement for launches or tentpole moments. It costs more, but it lifts view and completion rates when timed well.

• Carousel: Swipe through 2–5 frames to show variations, angles, or use cases without leaving the platform.
• Collections: Hero image plus up to 24 items — ideal for outfits, room looks, or seasonal edits that invite browsing.
• Showcase ads: Bundle multiple pins into one ad to guide people to the right product pages quickly.

Shopping Pins link your product feed so price and availability show in-ad. This reduces friction and speeds the path from discovery to purchase.

Quiz ads add lightweight personalization — ask one quick question and route people to the most relevant product.

Match format to goal: use Premiere Spotlight for launches, Carousel and Video for consideration, Collections and Shopping for catalog browsing, and Quiz for personalization.

Design that stops the scroll: creative best practices for Pins and videos

A scroll-stopping creative begins with one clear idea and a frame that reads instantly on mobile. Keep visuals tight, text readable, and the promise obvious within a second.

Aspect ratios and overlays matter. Use vertical ratios (2:3, 1000 x 1500) and keep key elements away from edges. Large, high-contrast text overlays help users who browse quickly.

For short video, lead with motion and a clear hook. Aim for 6–15 seconds, high resolution, and captions — many people autoplay without sound.

Practical, repeatable tips

• One idea per Pin—avoid clutter and limit blank space for stronger saves and clicks.
• Mix UGC, lifestyle shots, and simple infographics to educate your audience without extra design time.
• Keep branding subtle — a corner logo and consistent color accents feel native in the feed.
• Build 2–3 templates in your favorite design tools so content scales with limited time and resources.
• Always link the Pin to the most relevant page on your website — keep the promise intact.

“Lead with benefit, not busy graphics — your audience decides in a glance.”

Targeting and keywords: reach the right audience at the right moment

Start with search queries inside Pinterest — those autocomplete suggestions reveal real interest and clear intent. Use those related terms as your primary keyword list and build titles and descriptions around them.

Keyword discovery and placement

Type seed phrases in the search bar and note suggested terms. These are the phrases your audience actually types.

Place keywords where they matter: profile bio, board titles and descriptions, Pin titles and descriptions, and image alt text. Keep language natural — avoid stuffing.

Interests, demographics, and advanced audiences

Layer interests, age, location, and device to narrow reach without stifling delivery. Build ad groups around tight keyword themes so you can test intent clusters cleanly.

Retargeting with the Pinterest tag and lookalikes

Install the Pinterest tag sitewide to capture visit events and purchase value. Then create retargeting audiences from users who viewed product pages or added items to cart.

Convert that data into lookalikes to expand reach while staying close to your core target audience.

• Create audiences from engaged users — saves and clicks show warm intent.
• Use exclusions to protect budget — omit recent purchasers from prospecting groups.
• Map messaging to intent — searchers want direct benefits; feed users want inspiration.

Tip: Keep creatives fresh against proven keyword sets — swap imagery often and let data guide what you scale.

Budgets, bids, and what Pinterest ads cost today

A clear budget plan helps the auction deliver the outcomes you actually value. The platform runs an auction: you set a daily budget and a max bid aligned with your objective, and the system finds inventory that matches your constraints.

Be practical — use benchmarks as guideposts, not guarantees. Typical ranges: up to $0.10 per click, up to $2.00 per conversion, and up to $1.50 CPM. Your actuals depend on creative quality, targeting, competition, and seasonality.

How the auction works and aligning bids with objectives

Set bids where the value sits. Bid higher for remarketing and high-intent keywords, and lower for top-funnel discovery. Give campaigns time — 7–10 days of steady spend helps the auction learn and find efficient users.

Watch leading indicators: CTR, saves, and quality scores. Strong engagement usually lowers effective costs by improving delivery priority.

Benchmarks and practical cost tips

Start modestly and scale winners. Segment campaigns by goal and theme so analytics stay clean. Make sure your website converts — ad costs are only half the story; poor landing pages inflate CPA fast.

“Invest time in testing bids and creative; the cheapest click means little if the page fails to convert.”

• Use analytics weekly — shift budget from high‑CAC groups to efficient ones.
• Document bids, budgets, and results so you can replicate wins.
• Plan for seasonality — costs often rise during gifting and home refresh periods.

Shopping on Pinterest: catalogs, product feeds, and Shop the Look

Catalogs and product feeds remove manual pinning by letting the platform generate shoppable pins from your inventory. This process cuts setup time and creates a steady stream of buyable content you can promote.

Set up Catalogs by uploading a product feed with title, price, availability, and URL. Once approved, Pinterest auto-creates product Pins you can push with Shopping ads — a clear path to conversions.

Turn on Rich Pins and use Shop the Look

Rich Pins pull live price and product details from your website so mobile shoppers see a Shop button. That reduces steps between inspiration and purchase.

Shop the Look lets you tag multiple items inside one image — perfect for outfits or room scenes. Tags link back to the exact product pages on your claimed site.

• Sync inventory often — stale stock kills trust and ad performance.
• Keep product titles and descriptions clear and keyword-rich for search visibility.
• Create Collections ads from your catalog — lead with a hero image, then showcase up to 24 items.

Advertisers combining Catalogs and Shopping ads reported about a 15% ROAS lift — automation plus accurate product data sells.

Map boards to shopping intent — “New Arrivals” or “Under $50” — and test lifestyle against plain product shots. Let the data tell you which media converts best, then scale winners with confidence.

Measure, learn, and scale: analytics that matter for small businesses

Good measurement lets you spend less time guessing and more time growing sales. Start with a short weekly checklist that fits your team’s capacity. Track simple metrics first, then add deeper analysis as the account matures.

Key metrics in Ads Manager — impressions (reach), saves (future intent), clicks (traffic), CTR (relevance), and cost metrics (CPC/CPM). Once the Pinterest tag captures conversions, layer in ROAS and conversion value.

Use Pinterest Analytics to find top-performing pins and boards. Sort by saves and clicks, then promote the winners and build lookalike audiences from engaged users.

Structured testing roadmap

Keep tests small and sequential: creative first, then keywords, then landing pages. Change one variable at a time and set clear thresholds — for example, pause if CTR is under 0.7% after 1,000 impressions.

• Compare cohorts: new vs returning users, mobile vs desktop.
• Review search term reports and add winning queries as exact-match keywords.
• Tie website analytics to ad outcomes — confirm pages load fast and track add-to-cart events.

Tip: Document each campaign’s winners — message, audience, and landing page — so you can repeat what works without wasting time or budget.

Tools and real-world examples to accelerate your results

Practical tools shrink busy work and surface insights that lift campaign ROI fast.

Scheduling and insights: use Hootsuite for cross-platform scheduling and reporting. Tailwind recommends best times and gives Pinterest analytics so your Pins publish when users are most active. Sprout Social centralizes publishing and analytics, letting you align Pinterest work with other social media calendars.

These platforms save time and keep content consistent — a must when you juggle product drops, seasonal ideas, and boards that matter.

What winning campaigns look like: retail, home, and beauty

Real examples make the path clear. Sweaty Betty used Shopping ads and trend signals — result: +39% ROAS year-over-year and a much lower CPA versus other channels.

Dulux earned a Trends Badge and ran multi-objective ads for home improvement — they saw +23% ad recall and +21% CTR against internal benchmarks.

e.l.f. launched with Premiere Spotlight, then retargeted with video — they improved video completion and view rates, especially with Gen Z.

“Pair trend insights with available inventory, match format to funnel stage, then retarget viewers with concise follow-ups.”

• Use Hootsuite to schedule Pins, track performance, and report results across platforms.
• Let Tailwind suggest post times and refine cadence based on engagement.
• Sprout Social keeps publishing aligned across your social media platform mix.

Playbook — 1) pair trend insights with product availability, 2) match format to funnel stage, 3) retarget quickly with concise follow-ups. Keep a short ideas backlog and use scheduling tools to execute at the right moment.

Checklist before scaling: clean product feeds, accurate prices, claimed account, and fast pages. Measure the delta from tools — time saved, consistency gained, and improved visibility — so subscriptions become clear business wins.

Conclusion

This guide leaves you with a clear path — set the foundation, run tight tests, and scale what proves efficient.

The most valuable things you can do this week: switch to a business account, claim your site, install the tag, and launch one focused test. Small moves yield fast feedback.

Keep it simple: one idea per Pin, one promise per ad, one landing page per offer. Make pinterest marketing a habit — steady content and short tests compound over time.

Build your brand with useful media and ideas that earn saves. Protect your time with templates and tools — quality beats volume when resources are tight.

Start small, learn fast, iterate often — that’s the way teams turn inspiration into revenue. Ask yourself: does this Pin make it easier for users to take the next step? If yes, you’re on the right track.