Pinterest Ads Explained: Why Brands Use Them, Ad Types, and When to Use Each
Pinterest ads can feel confusing at first, especially if you’re coming from platforms like Meta or Google. Pinterest isn’t a social feed. It’s a discovery and planning platform, which means ads work a little differently and can support sales in a very effective way.
If you’re running an online business and wondering whether Pinterest ads are worth exploring, this guide walks through why brands use Pinterest ads, the main types of ads available, and when each one makes sense.
Why Many E-Commerce Brands Use Pinterest Ads
Pinterest users come to the platform to plan. They’re searching, saving, and collecting ideas for future purchases, sometimes weeks or months before they’re ready to buy.
That makes Pinterest especially powerful for:
Products with longer decision cycles like home, decor, fashion, and gifting
Seasonal and planning-based purchases
Brands that benefit from inspiration before conversion
Businesses looking to reach customers earlier in the funnel
Pinterest ads blend into organic content, so they don’t feel disruptive. Instead of interrupting someone mid-scroll, your ads show up while people are actively looking for ideas.
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How Pinterest Ads Work (At a High Level)
Pinterest ads appear in:
Search results
The home feed
Related pins and browsing experiences
Targeting is built around keywords, interests, and behaviors. Pinterest also prioritizes fresh creative and consistency. Performance improves over time.
Keep in mind, Pinterest often works well as a supporting channel alongside Meta or Google.
The Main Types of Pinterest Ads
(and When to Use Them)
One important thing to understand is that strategy, such as prospecting, conversion, or retargeting, and campaign format, such as traffic, conversion, or catalog sales, are related but not the same. They can be used together to create a full funnel of ads on the platform.
Here’s how they fit together.
Prospecting Ads (Cold Audiences)
What they do:
Introduce your brand to people who haven’t interacted with you yet.
Recommended campaign formats: Traffic campaigns or Conversion campaigns when paired with interest or keyword targeting
Why they work:
Prospecting ads help Pinterest learn who is interested in your products. Traffic and prospecting conversion campaigns (when set up intentionally with keywords and interest targeting) gather information and engagement signals at a lower cost, which is helpful when you’re new to the platform or entering a new season.
Best used when:
You’re new to Pinterest ads
You’re launching a product or collection
You want to build awareness before pushing conversions
You don’t yet have enough data for retargeting
Conversion Ads (Warm Audiences)
What they do:
Push interested users toward action, such as add to cart or checkout.
Recommended campaign formats:
Conversion campaigns optimized for add to cart or checkout
Why they work:
Conversion campaigns tell Pinterest to focus on people most likely to buy. These ads perform best once there’s already some traffic or engagement to work from.
Best used when:
You have steady site traffic or Pinterest engagement
Your product pages convert reasonably well
You want to turn interest into purchases
Retargeting Ads
What they do:
Re-engage people who already know or have interacted with your brand.
Recommended campaign formats:
Conversion campaigns
Catalog sales campaigns if you have a product feed
Why they work:
Retargeting audiences are smaller but higher intent. Pinterest can show ads to people who visited your site, viewed products, or engaged with your pins, often bringing them back when they’re closer to buying.
Best used when:
You have consistent traffic
You want to improve return on ad spend
You’re running prospecting ads and want to close the loop
You’re promoting seasonal or time-sensitive offers
Catalog Ads (Dynamic Product Ads)
What they do:
Automatically promote products from your store’s catalog. Dynamic retargeting is a type of Pinterest advertising that automatically shows people the exact products they viewed or interacted with on your website, using your product catalog.
Instead of choosing a single image to promote, Pinterest pulls product images, pricing, and details directly from your catalog and serves the most relevant product to each shopper based on their behavior.
Why they work:
Catalog ads allow Pinterest to dynamically match products to shoppers based on behavior. They’re especially effective for stores with multiple products and make scaling easy over time.
Best used when:
You sell multiple products or variations
You want less hands-on creative management
You’re ready to scale beyond manual campaigns
You want Pinterest to optimize at the product level
How These Ad Types Work Together
Most successful Pinterest ad accounts use more than one ad type at the same time.
A common funnel looks like this:
Prospecting ads build awareness and traffic
Conversion ads capture growing intent to purchase
Retargeting ads bring people who have interacted with your brand back
Catalog ads scale what’s already working, dynamically target those with high intent to buy
Each ad type supports a different stage of the customer journey.
Common Pinterest Ads Mistakes to Avoid
Expecting instant results in the first week
Using the same image for every campaign type - You want to create unique images at each level of your ads funnel. Appeal to users at their individual stage in the purchase journey, from just getting to know our brand to ready to purchase.
Skipping prospecting and relying only on retargeting
Judging performance before Pinterest finishes learning. This takes time.
Forgetting that Pinterest is a planning platform
Pinterest rewards patience, consistency, and clear goals.
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Conclusion
A complete Pinterest Ads Strategy isn’t necessarily about choosing a single campaign type. Ads on Pinterest work best when the ad format matches the goal and the stage of the buyer journey.
When set up correctly, Pinterest ads support discovery, influence decisions early, and continue driving sales long after the first click.
If you’re considering Pinterest ads and want hands-on support, I work with businesses to manage Pinterest ad campaigns from start to finish, including custom strategy, creative setup, optimization, and ongoing management. Learn more here.