How to transform marketing workflows with Canto and Canva

In fast-paced teams, marketers, designers, and brand managers often hit the same Canva roadblocks: wasting time searching for the right assets, struggling to adapt content for different platforms, or worrying about brand consistency across outputs. These challenges add friction to workflows and distract from the work that matters most.

But what if there were a way to streamline this process directly inside Canva?

Read on to find out the benefits of integrating a digital asset management (DAM) platform, like Canto, with Canva and why Canto + Canva make the perfect duo to streamline workflows for:

• Marketing managers
• Education content managers
• Marketing specialists
• Countless others

What are the benefits of a Canto + Canva integration?

There are numerous benefits to integrating Canva with Canto, including:

• Centralized asset access: Bring your entire brand library right into Canva
• Enhanced search: Search Canto assets by file name, metadata, and even facial recognition tags right from Canva
• Streamlined productivity: Find files, make edits to your design, and save the final back to Canto — all without leaving Canva
• Improved brand consistency: All teams can access the latest on-brand and up-to-date brand assets inside Canva to maintain brand consistency across channels
• Increased content ROI: Your best designs and brand assets can be found and repurposed across channels, increasing your content effectiveness and value

Now that we have covered the benefits, let’s look at how Canto’s Canva integration works in the real world.

Use case 1: How Canto and Canva streamline image discovery for marketing managers

• Problem: Marketing and creative teams waste time switching between tools, hunting for assets, and risk using outdated or off-brand content
• Solution: The Canto + Canva integration embeds approved logos, templates, and images directly into Canva, accelerating content creation and ensuring brand consistency

Marketing teams rely on Canva for fast, intuitive content creation, but ensuring every design uses current, approved brand assets can be a challenge. Without easy access to logos, templates, and imagery stored in a central location, teams risk using outdated or off-brand content, leading to delays and costly rework.

By integrating Canva with Canto, marketers can instantly access up-to-date, brand-compliant assets directly within Canva, streamlining workflows and ensuring every piece of content is on-brand.

Let’s explore how this integration supports faster, more consistent content delivery, with a fairly common example for CPG brands.

You need to find your extra hot BBQ sauces for a flash sale that you’re launching in Q2. You also need to find the most current, on-brand product imagery that your team has permission to use for social media.

With the Canto Canva integration, you can search for the product info and then sort by the newest content creation date — images below:

Your team can use product descriptors to find the approved assets and then sort them by the newest creation date, date updated, and file name:

By simply clicking on the assets hosted in the DAM, your creative team can now add on-brand and approved assets for social usage:

Canva, as a standalone tool, does not have version histories, advanced metadata, or the ability to filter by date updated. When you add Canto and Canva together, you can search Canto content metadata directly within Canva and find relevant images faster.

Now that you’ve completed the graphic, you’ll want to share it with teams. Without a Canto + Canva integration, you would have to save this locally and then share it across channels. But with Canto’s Canva integration, you can upload it to Canto DAM and then automatically distribute it to a Canto Portal for self-service use by other teams:

With Canto and Canva, your content is ready and accessible for teams to use for sales launches.

Use case 2: How education content managers deliver more impactful collateral with Canto and Canva

Problem: Creating consistent, on-brand educational materials across digital and print channels is time-consuming and often fragmented across teams

Solution: The Canto + Canva integration gives educators and content teams instant access to approved assets within Canva, streamlining creation and ensuring brand consistency

In higher education, storytelling through visual content is key to engaging alumni, students, and donors. With the Canto + Canva integration, your team can efficiently create branded, story-driven materials. With approved assets at your team’s disposal, they can confidently design within Canva while ensuring compliance and consistency. The result is faster content creation, reduced risk, and a stronger connection between past and present through visual storytelling.

In this example, you will be creating a “Then & Now” campus brochure, which leverages historical archives and current assets stored in the DAM. With Smart Tags and a centralized brand library, your team can build compelling, on-brand designs directly within Canva without the need to search across multiple systems.

Let’s start by adding historical content that has been approved by Creative Services and Legal.

First, I need to find approved images of the renovated science building. By using tags from Canto, I can find the approved content faster:

Next, we need to add an image from the campus construction images:

Finally, I’m going to search with our approved campus history images:

With Canto and Canva, your new brochure comes together quickly, giving you time back for other strategic activities.

Use case 3: How marketing specialists deliver top-notch decks every time with Canto’s Canva integration

Problem: Teams building decks often struggle to find the latest brand visuals, charts, and approved imagery, causing delays and inconsistencies

Solution: The Canto + Canva integration lets users access approved assets directly within Canva, streamlining workflows and maintaining brand integrity

From sales pitches to executive updates, marketing specialists need to move fast without sacrificing quality. By connecting Canva with Canto’s DAM, you can instantly pull in the latest branded assets, ensuring every slide is polished, consistent, and on message without the hassle of switching platforms.

In this example, you can use Canto’s facial recognition to find any headshot instantly. The neatest part is how this works: Canto handles facial recognition inside the Canto library, tagging relevant media with identified individuals (this metadata becomes searchable inside Canva):

Now, let’s search for your GM, Doug Jones:

And finally, let’s add a headshot image of our colleague Jenny Lopez:

Now, let’s add some Chicago architecture images from our DAM:

Next, let’s add an image from our Austin photo session from July 2024 — image below:

Additionally, let’s add an approved video to the presentation:

As you can see, with Canto and Canva at your disposal, the deck is coming together beautifully, on-brand, and quickly.

Transform workflows with Canto’s Canva integration today

Let’s face it: your team didn’t join marketing to play digital detective. With the Canto + Canva integration, you’re freeing up time to do what creatives do best: make magic.

No more asset scavenger hunts or version control nightmares. Just simple asset access, inspired visuals, and the confidence that every design is on-brand and approval-ready.

Whether you’re crafting a campaign, a campus story, or a killer slide deck, the only thing your team must chase now is the next big idea.

Check out more about Canto’s Canva integration today.