Pinterest marketing strategy: a plan for brands, with 10 real Pins
A Pinterest marketing strategy for brands in six steps, from the business account to boards, Pin types, seasonal timing and paid Pins. With 10 real Pins from Chobani, Brooklinen, Fenty Beauty, Sephora and more.
Marián Cabadaj
9 min read
Short answer: a Pinterest marketing strategy for a brand is a plan to be found in Pinterest search before people decide what to buy. Set up a free business account, claim your website, build boards around what people search for, and post new 2:3 Pins every week. Pin seasonal ideas early, connect your product catalog, and pay to promote the Pins that people already save.
People use Pinterest like a search engine for ideas. They come with a plan, such as a Halloween costume, a soup for Sunday or a new bedroom, and they save what helps. Pinterest reported 661 million monthly active users for the third quarter of 2026, up 10% year over year, with 107 million in the US and Canada (Pinterest, Q3 2026 results, October 29, 2026). What this means for a DTC brand: the audience is large and it is planning, so a Pin that answers the plan can bring visits for months.
Every brand Pin below is real. We read them from the brands' public Pinterest profiles on November 1, 2026. Pinterest does not show their results, so we say what each Pin does and never that it won.
Why does Pinterest work for brands?
Pinterest works for brands because most searches are for ideas, such as a recipe, a costume or a room. Pinterest says that "96% of top searches are unbranded" (Pinterest Business, audience page, 2026). What this means for a DTC brand: a small brand can show up for "white chicken chili" or "last minute halloween costume" next to big names, if the Pin answers that search.
Three things follow from this, and they shape the whole plan:
- Search decides reach. Write Pin titles, descriptions and board names in the words people type, such as "easy valentine lunchbox ideas", not your product name.
- The idea comes first, the product second. Chobani does not pin a yogurt cup. It pins a lunchbox with the yogurt in it.
- Pins last. A post on Instagram fades in days. A Pin stays in search results and in people's boards, so one good Pin keeps working.
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Add as preferred sourceHow do you set up Pinterest for a brand?
Start with the free basics, in this order. Each step takes minutes, and the last two need a website you control.
| Step | What you do | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Business account | Create one, or convert a personal account, at business.pinterest.com | Free. It gives you analytics and ads |
| 2. Claim your website | Add the code Pinterest gives you to your site | Your name and logo show on every Pin from your site |
| 3. Boards by search term | 5 to 10 boards named the way people search | Boards are how Pinterest learns what your Pins are about |
| 4. Product catalog | Connect your store feed | Your products become Product Pins and can run as shopping ads |
| 5. Pinterest tag | Add the tag to your site | Measures visits and sales from Pins and ads |
| 6. Weekly Pins | A fixed number of new Pins each week | Fresh Pins get shown in feeds and search |
Name boards the way people search. Madewell's board is "Made for Summer: Hawaii Edition | Madewell", which reads like a trip plan and still carries the brand.
What should a brand pin?
Pin ideas that people search for, with your product inside them. The real Pins below fall into five types, and a good mix uses all five.
Recipes and how-tos: Chobani and Lowe's
Chobani's Pins are recipes: a Valentine's lunchbox and a peppermint mocha affogato. Both are tall Pins with the dish on top and a short title at the bottom. The yogurt and the creamer are in the shot, and the links go to the product pages. A how-to works the same way for hard goods. This Pin from Lowe's profile shows a jewelry project in four numbered steps, one per square.
What to copy: the recipe or the steps are the reason to save. Look closely at the Lowe's Pin, though: the labels read "Setp 1" to "Setp 4". A typo on a Pin stays in search for months, so proofread every one.
Seasonal ideas: Brooklinen and Whole Foods Market
Brooklinen's Pin turns a white flat sheet into a "Ghost That's Chill" costume: one sheet, sunglasses and "Finger Guns". Whole Foods Market runs a "Seasonal Soup Series" with one soup per Pin, such as white chicken chili. Both brands publish a series that runs through the whole season.
What to copy: pin seasonal ideas before the season starts, because people plan ahead on Pinterest. A costume Pin posted on October 30 is late for the people who planned in early October.
Guides and charts: Fenty Beauty
Fenty Beauty's "Make It Monochrome" Pin pairs five blush shades with five lip gloss shades in a simple chart. It answers "which gloss goes with my blush" and sells two products at once.
What to copy: a chart that helps someone choose gets saved, because they will need it again in the store.
Product Pins: Sephora and Target
Sephora pins single products on white, such as this holiday MAC lip combo. The link ends in om_mmc=paid_social_Pinterest_DPA, which tells you Sephora runs these Pins as paid dynamic product ads from its catalog. Target pins whole collections, like a "Shop the limited-edition collection" Pin with pink hair tools spread across the frame.
What to copy: product Pins are for people who already know what they want. Connect your catalog so every product gets one, and keep the idea Pins for discovery.
Lifestyle shots: West Elm
West Elm pins a watering can in use: a hand, a wooden planter of herbs and morning light. The link carries the tag cm_ven=organicsoc, so West Elm tracks this one as an organic Pin. What to copy: show the product doing its job in a home, so the Pin fits on someone's "balcony garden" board.
How do organic and paid Pins work together?
Organic Pins show you what people save. Paid Pins put more money behind the winners. Run them in that order.
- Find winners organically. After 2 to 4 weeks, sort your Pins by saves and outbound clicks in Pinterest Analytics. Saves show interest, clicks show intent.
- Promote the winners. Turn the top Pins into ads with the same image and title. A Pin people already save does not look like an ad.
- Add shopping ads. With a catalog connected, run shopping ads like Sephora's to people who looked at your products.
- Use ad formats you already have. A static ad that works on Meta can run as a Pin. Check the shape first: Pinterest recommends a 2:3 ratio, or 1000 x 1500 pixels, for a standard image ad (Pinterest Help Center, product specs, 2026). What this means for a DTC brand: a 4:5 Meta ad still runs, but a 2:3 version takes more space in the grid.
This static ad Selzee made for Kit-Cat Klock is a whiteboard that explains the clock "like you're 7". The list format reads like an idea Pin, so it fits Pinterest without a new shoot. Check any image against Pinterest's sizes below before you pin it.
Upload Pin
No file? Type a size
JPG, PNG, WEBP, BMP or TIFF. The file stays in your browser.
Fill the frame
Format
Details and full spec
- Ratio
- 2:3
- File size limit (on the web)
- 20 MB
- Formats
- JPG, PNG, WEBP, BMP, TIFF
Pinterest Pin Size Checker: the full tool, with the benchmarks and the FAQ
Add to Chrome
To see what other brands promote, look them up in the Pinterest ad library. Our native advertising examples cover how a promoted Pin compares with sponsored posts on other platforms.
How do you measure a Pinterest strategy?
Measure three numbers each month in Pinterest Analytics: impressions, saves and outbound clicks. Impressions show whether search finds you. Saves show whether the idea is useful. Outbound clicks show whether people want the product. A Pin with many saves and few clicks needs the product name in its title and a direct product link.
With the Pinterest tag on your site, also track visits and sales from Pins. Give a new account three months before you judge it, because Pins build up in search over time.
How Selzee makes Pins for your brand
Selzee finds the ad formats that are trending in your market right now, including what brands run in the Pinterest ad library, and recreates them for your brand with your products, logo, colors and fonts. You approve the ones you like and ship them as Pins in 1 click, next to Meta Ads, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. New ads come every day.
Selzee makes static image ads. It does not manage your boards, write Pin descriptions or run your Pinterest ad budget. See how it works on the AI ad generation page, and find more organic post ideas in our social media post ideas guide.
Pinterest marketing strategy: FAQ
Is Pinterest good for marketing in 2026?
Yes, for brands that sell things people plan for, such as food, home, fashion, beauty, travel and gifts. Pinterest reported 661 million monthly active users in the third quarter of 2026, and it says 96% of top searches are unbranded. Selzee makes Pins for your brand every day.
How often should a brand post on Pinterest?
Post on a fixed schedule you can keep. We suggest 5 to 15 new Pins a week. Keep it up for three months. New Pins matter more than re-pinning the same image. Selzee gives you new ads every day to pin.
What size is a Pinterest Pin?
Pinterest recommends a 2:3 ratio, or 1000 x 1500 pixels, for a standard Pin, as a PNG or JPEG. Selzee ships approved ads as Pins in 1 click.
Do I need a Pinterest business account?
Yes. A business account is free, and it gives you analytics, a claimed website, a product catalog and access to ads. A personal account has none of these. Selzee connects to Pinterest to ship your ads as Pins.
Should a small brand run Pinterest ads?
Only after you know which Pins people save. Promote the top organic Pins first, then add shopping ads once your catalog is connected. Selzee makes the ad creative to test.
The short version
Set up a free business account, claim your site and name your boards like searches. Pin recipes, how-tos, seasonal ideas, charts and products every week, with your product inside the idea. After a month, promote the Pins people save most.
If you want new Pins made for your brand every day, see how Selzee works.