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How AI-Generated Images Can Grow Your Newsletter (and Build Your Brand)

How AI-Generated Images Can Grow Your Newsletter (and Build Your Brand)

Turn stunning AI visuals into powerful growth engines for your newsletter and brand.

Andrew Best
May 12, 2025

Most email newsletters rely too much on text.
Maybe there's a stock photo or two thrown in there… but that’s usually about it.

❌ Stock images don’t make your emails stand out.
❌ And forget about AI-generated text — there's no faster way to lose subscribers than handing over your entire email to ChatGPT.

People can spot that junk from a mile away.

But AI-generated images?
Totally different story.

The Problem With Stock and Generic AI Images

Let’s be clear: I’m not talking about those boring, lifeless AI photos that somehow look worse than stock.

I’m talking about custom AI-generated images that represent you and your brand — visuals that:

📈 Grab attention
📍 Stick in your readers' minds
🔗 Get shared

Use Case: Zoe the Nutritionist

Imagine you're a health coach or nutritionist.

Your newsletter is full of great advice — but visually, it looks like everyone else’s.

Most people actually skim emails rather than read every word. Your emails will perform much better if you can deliver at least some of your content in a visually appealing way.

You can do this with an image of yourself.

But instead of using images of myself, I’m going to use my AI-generated character Zoe to show how to do this.

I created Zoe with Cartario, using Flux 1.1 Pro to generate her. I’ll explain more about using Cartario for email marketing at the bottom of this article.

I used this type of prompt to create her:

Prompt:

“Zoe is a beautiful female model and an intelligent international university student, wearing black-framed glasses, natural makeup, soft lighting, warm smile, realistic photo style, subtle background.”

1. Start With a Stylized Cartoon of Yourself.

Let’s say you want something friendly and modern.
Ghibli-style cartoons have been blowing up lately, and they’re perfect for newsletters.

Prompt:
Create a Ghibli-style cartoon of this person. Format in YouTube thumbnail dimensions.

Now that’s already way more unique than a stock photo.

If you upload your image into ChatGPT using GPT-4o, you can use the above prompt to turn any image into a Ghibli cartoon.

Using these types of images in your newsletters is one fun way to connect with your audience.

2. Add Branding Through Color.

This is where most people stop, but it’s also where you can take things to the next level.

Your newsletter probably has a look and feel to it (at least it should!)

Imagine the following colors are the two main brand colors you use in your emails:

🟣 Royal Purple (Primary)
Hex: #6A0DAD
Signals creativity, luxury, mystery

🟡 Golden Yellow (Accent)
Hex: #FFC300
Brings warmth, clarity, energy

You can make AI-generated visuals based on your preferred colors.

Prompt:
Create a new image in Ghibli style. Use the same YouTube thumbnail dimensions for the image. Make the image primarily with these branding colors: Hex: #6A0DAD and Hex: #FFC300

Now you’ve already got a great-looking cartoon of yourself in your branding colors. You’ll never get a stock image to look this much like your brand.

Even if you don’t want to use images of yourself in your emails, you can do something similar with product images, or you can create themed images of anything you talk about that relates to your newsletter.

🤖 Liking these ideas?

3. Deliver Tips Visually (With Style).

Instead of explaining a tip with plain text, Zoe can deliver it for you!

Let’s say you’re giving a quick wellness reminder:

"Drink lemon water for a natural detox."

Prompt:
Create a Ghibli-style cartoon of this person. Again use our branding colors. Create the image in YouTube thumbnail dimensions. Make her say, “Drink lemon water for a natural detox,” using a speech bubble.

Now your audience gets something eye-catching, personal, and instantly understandable.

In your beehiiv newsletter, you could use a format like this for a “tip of the week,” “recommendation of the week,” or “joke of the week.”

4. Try Different Styles To Keep Things Fresh

Don't want to stick with just one style? You don’t have to.

Here are a few style variations I’ve used with Zoe that look awesome in emails:

Stop-Motion Claymation Style

Prompt:
Create a stop-motion claymation-style image of Zoe. Use our branding colors. Format in YouTube thumbnail dimensions.

Stop-motion claymation is a fun and playful style you might want to use in certain situations.

3D Pixar-Style

Prompt:
Create a 3D Pixar-style image of Zoe in our branding colors. Format the image in YouTube thumbnail dimensions. Make her look friendly and professional.

Zoe in Japanese Josei-Style

Ghibli certainly isn’t the only cartoon style. Ask ChatGPT for a list of cartoon styles and try them all. See what could be best for you and your brand.

Here is the Japanese “Josei” style.

Prompt:
Create an elegant Japanese Josei-style cartoon of Zoe. Use our branding colors. Keep the tone sleek, modern, and stylish. Format in YouTube thumbnail dimensions.

Insert Image: Zoe in Cyberpunk Style

Do you want to try something wild? Think outside the box. It could be fun for a certain type of newsletter. Even if you don’t use it all the time, you could try it once in a while to mix things up and keep your readers interested.

Prompt:
Create a cyberpunk-style image Zoe. Neon purple lights, futuristic city backdrop, glowing yellow details. YouTube thumbnail dimensions.

Insert Image: Zoe in Noir Detective Style

Here is a unique and sophisticated style.

Prompt:
Create a noir detective-style image of Zoe. Use grayscale and don’t make it too dark. Trench coat, shadowy alley, classic detective pose. YouTube thumbnail dimensions.

These kinds of images are fun to create — but more importantly, they increase engagement.

They tell your beehiiv audience that you put time and effort into your emails.

The amazing thing is that these images don’t take much time or effort to make!

🧠 Why This Works

People are overwhelmed with boring emails.

When someone opens your newsletter and sees something custom, colorful, and branded, it immediately sets the following tone:

🗓️ You care.
🌟 You’re different.
💼 Your content is worth reading.

Better yet, these visuals are easy to make with a tool like Cartario.

We are planning to integrate Cartario with beehiiv in the near future so that beehiiv users can generate their AI images right inside the beehiiv editor.

Cartario uses all of the best cutting-edge AI image generation models like Flux 1.1 Pro and Google ImageGen.

Cartario also lets you upload several photos of yourself or your product and create a custom AI image model of that collection of photos.