Pinterest Ads for companies: Place ads and build reach

In recent years, Pinterest has developed from an inspiration platform into a serious performance channel. According to recent studies, 89% of Pinterest users buy products that they have discovered on the platform – a figure that hardly any other social media platform can match. Pinterest ads are now an indispensable part of the digital marketing mix for companies that want to expand their reach and address target groups that are ready to buy.

Key Facts -

Why Pinterest Ads are particularly powerful for companies

The most important Pinterest ad formats at a glance

Place Pinterest Ads: Step-by-step guide

1. set up a Pinterest Business account

2. define the campaign objective

3. set up target group precisely

4. prepare creative material

5. define budget and bidding strategy

Targeting strategies for maximum reach

Keyword targeting: The strongest lever

Interest targeting: Ideal for awareness

Actalike Audiences: Scaling based on the best

Optimizing ROAS: What really works

A systematic approach to creative testing

Optimize landing page for Pinterest traffic

Use seasonality

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

Integrate Pinterest Ads into the overall marketing mix

Frequently asked questions about Pinterest Ads

Why Pinterest Ads are particularly powerful for companies

Pinterest is fundamentally different from other platforms: Users come with a genuine intention to buy. They actively search for ideas, products and solutions – and are open to advertising that enriches their feed instead of interrupting it. This leads to a different mindset than on Instagram or TikTok, where advertising is often perceived as a disruption. Pinterest users are planners: they collect ideas for renovations, weddings, outfits or recipes months in advance. Brands that are present early on in the decision-making process win.

Ready-to-buy target group: 89% of users have already purchased products via Pinterest
Long content lifespan: Pins remain relevant for months to years – in contrast to stories or reels
High reach with low competition: CPMs often lower than on Meta or Google
Visual discovery: your product is discovered in the planning phase, not after purchase
Shopping integration: Direct linking to product catalogs and store systems

The most important Pinterest ad formats at a glance

Pinterest offers various advertising formats that perform differently depending on the campaign objective. Choosing the right format is crucial for your ROAS. Here you will find all current formats with typical guide values for CPM (cost per mille) and CPC (cost per click) – as a guide, as the actual costs depend heavily on the target group, industry and bidding strategy:

Ad format	Description	Recommended destination	CPM (reference value)	CPC (reference value)
Standard pin	Single image (2:3 ratio recommended), static or animated	Brand awareness, traffic	2,00-5,00 €	0,10-0,50 €
Video pin	Video (2:3 or square), 4 sec. – 15 min.	Awareness, commitment	3,00-8,00 €	0,15-0,70 €
Shopping Ad	Product catalog-based, direct price display	Conversion, ROAS	4,00-10,00 €	0,20-0,80 €
Carousel Ad	2-5 images scrollable in one pin	Product range, storytelling	3,00-7,00 €	0,12-0,60 €
Collections Ad	Main image + 3 product images below	E-Commerce, Catalog	5,00-12,00 €	0,25-0,90 €

Agency tip: Start with standard pins and video pins in the upper funnel before using shopping ads and collections for conversion campaigns. The build-up creates brand trust, which significantly increases the conversion rate for bottom-funnel campaigns. Many companies make the mistake of immediately optimizing for conversion – and are surprised by poor ROAS values.

Place Pinterest Ads: Step-by-step guide

Getting started with Pinterest Ads is more structured than with Meta or TikTok – if you follow the right order. Here’s the tried and tested process we use for our clients at Social Media One:

1. set up a Pinterest Business account

No ads without a business account. Switch to business.pinterest.com for free. Link your website and verify the domain – only then will your pins be displayed with your brand’s distinctive logo. Also set up the Pinterest tag: The JavaScript snippet on your website tracks conversions, shopping baskets and page visits – the basis for all retargeting and conversion tracking.

2. define the campaign objective

Pinterest distinguishes between the following campaign goals: Brand Awareness, Video Views, Consideration (traffic), App Install, Conversion, Catalog Sales. For most e-commerce companies, we recommend starting with Consideration and switching to Conversions after 2-3 weeks as soon as the Pinterest tag has collected enough data (at least 50 conversion events per week).

3. set up target group precisely

Pinterest offers three main targeting options: Interest targeting (by topic such as fashion, home decor, fitness), keyword targeting (by search intent – similar to Google) and audience targeting (custom lists, lookalikes, retargeting). The combination of keyword and interest targeting achieves the best results for most campaigns.

4. prepare creative material

Pinterest is primarily visual. Images in 2:3 format (1000×1500 px) perform best. Text on the image should be minimal – Pinterest users scan, they don’t read. Warm, bright colors statistically beat dark images by 20-30% in click rate. Use realistic lifestyle photos instead of product free-sharers if you want to build brand awareness.

5. define budget and bidding strategy

To get started, we recommend a daily budget of at least €20-30 per campaign to collect enough data. Pinterest requires a learning phase of 7-14 days in which the algorithm learns the optimal delivery. Do not interfere with bids or target groups during this phase – otherwise the learning phase will restart.

Targeting strategies for maximum reach

Targeting on Pinterest follows a different logic than on Meta or TikTok. Pinterest knows the planning intentions of its users – that makes it unique. Here are the strategies that work best in practice:

Keyword targeting: The strongest lever

Pinterest searches are transactional. People who search for “minimalist living room ideas” are planning to furnish their home and will make a purchase in the next few weeks or months. Use the Pinterest keyword tool to search for relevant terms directly in the Ads Manager. Use a mix of broad keywords (high reach) and specific long-tail keywords (higher conversion relevance). Plan at least 50-100 keywords per ad group.

Interest targeting: Ideal for awareness

Pinterest recognizes over 5,000 interest categories. Combine 3-5 relevant categories in an ad group without creating clusters that are too broad or too narrow. For a kitchen brand, suitable interests would be: “Cooking & Baking”, “Kitchen Furnishings”, “Food Photography”, “Recipes” and “Home Decor”. Test different combinations and optimize according to CPM and engagement rate.

Actalike Audiences: Scaling based on the best

As soon as you have at least 100 existing customers or website visitors in your Custom Audience, Pinterest automatically creates an “Actalike Audience” – the Pinterest equivalent of Facebook’s Lookalike Audiences. These can be set to 1% (very similar, small) to 10% (less similar, large) of the total population of a country.

Optimizing ROAS: What really works

A good Pinterest ROAS is between 3x and 8x, depending on the industry. The following parameters have the greatest influence on your results:

A systematic approach to creative testing

Create at least 3-5 creatives per campaign and let them run for 7-14 days before making decisions. Test one variable at a time: image vs. video, light vs. dark background, with vs. without text overlay, product photo vs. lifestyle. Pinterest Analytics shows you impression share, click rate and spend per creative – so you can quickly see what converts.

Optimize landing page for Pinterest traffic

Pinterest users are inspiration-driven and have a longer decision phase than Google users, for example. Your landing page should therefore be visually high-quality, build trust (ratings, UGC, seal of approval) and have a clear, low-threshold CTA – e.g. “Discover inspiration” instead of “Buy now”. Also add an exit-intent popup or a newsletter CTA to keep visitors who are not yet ready to buy.

Use seasonality

Pinterest is the platform for advance planners. Christmas content is already planned in October, summer vacation ideas are sought in March. Place your ads 6-8 weeks before the actual event – not just before. This allows you to reach planners before the competition gets expensive and benefit from lower CPMs in the preparation phase. Use the Pinterest trend calendar in the business dashboard as a basis for planning.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

When advising companies, we see the same mistakes with Pinterest Ads time and time again – and most of them are easily avoidable:

Wrong image format: Landscape format (16:9) performs significantly worse on Pinterest than portrait format (2:3). Pinterest was built for vertical content – use that.
Too much text on images: Pinterest suppresses pins with excessive text in the distribution. Keep text overlays minimal and clear.
Pinterest tag missing: No conversion tracking, no retargeting, no optimization without a tag. This is the most common mistake made by beginners.
Budgets are too small: Pinterest cannot train the algorithm with a daily budget of €5. At least €20 per day for the learning phase.
Adjust campaigns too early: Bids, target groups and budgets must not be changed during the learning phase (7-14 days) – otherwise the learning process will start all over again.
No organic Pinterest presence: Ads perform better when your organic profile is active. Users check your profile before they click.

Integrate Pinterest Ads into the overall marketing mix

Pinterest ads are fully effective when they are used as part of an integrated strategy – not as a silo channel. The typical Pinterest user has their first points of contact with your brand on Google or Instagram before they enter the planning phase on Pinterest. Or vice versa: they discover you on Pinterest and then continue their research on Google. Take these cross-channel journeys into account in your attribution.

Connect Pinterest with your social media budget planning so that investments are distributed sensibly across channels. Supplement Pinterest ads with organic Pinterest boards that contextualize your paid content and strengthen the user profile. Set up retargeting campaigns that reactivate Pinterest visitors on other channels (Google Display, Meta).

If you are planning influencer collaborations on Pinterest, pay attention to the current prices and structures in influencer marketing – Pinterest creators often have very high-profile, ready-to-buy communities. A well-thought-out Pinterest marketing strategy forms the basis on which ads should be built. For the overall channel strategy, it’s also worth taking a look at our Pinterest agency services if you’re looking for professional support.

Do you have questions about your individual Pinterest Ads strategy? Write to us – we’ll advise you free of charge on your options on Pinterest.

Frequently asked questions about Pinterest Ads

How much budget do I need for Pinterest Ads to get started?

For the learning phase, we recommend a daily budget of at least €20-30 per campaign. In the first 7-14 days, Pinterest collects data to optimize delivery. If the budget is too low, the algorithm will not receive enough signals and the campaign will not scale. For the first meaningful results, you should invest at least €300-500 in the test phase.

Which industries work best on Pinterest?

Pinterest is particularly strong for visual industries: Fashion and accessories, home decor and furnishings, beauty and cosmetics, food and recipes, travel and lifestyle, fitness and wellness, and weddings and events. But B2B companies (e.g. SaaS, design tools) also achieve relevant results on Pinterest – especially when they use infographics and tutorials.

How do Pinterest Ads differ from Facebook Ads?

The biggest difference lies in the user mindset: Pinterest users are in an active planning and discovery phase with a high purchase intent. Facebook users are interrupted while scrolling. As a result, Pinterest ads often have a higher conversion quality but a lower immediate click-through rate. Pinterest also has a much longer content lifespan – pins can generate traffic for months after they are first published.

What is the Pinterest tag and why is it important?

The Pinterest tag is a JavaScript snippet that you embed on your website. It tracks visitor actions such as page views, shopping carts, purchases and form submissions. Without a tag, you cannot track conversions, retarget website visitors or run conversion-optimized campaigns. The tag is the absolute basic requirement for professional Pinterest advertising.

How long does it take for Pinterest Ads to show results?

Expect a learning phase of 7-14 days during which Pinterest trains the algorithm. You will have the first reliable data after 2-3 weeks. Due to the longer decision phase of Pinterest users, you often only see the full effect on conversions after 4-6 weeks. Pinterest is not a direct response channel like Google Search – its strength lies in the upper and mid-funnel, which translates into conversions in the medium term.