How Young Agency Media Buyers Can Win With Data Enrichment

By Alex Theriault, Chief Growth Officer and Alison Harding, VP of Data Solutions, EMEA 

If you’re just starting your career as an agency media buyer, here’s a secret: Get really smart about data enrichment.

Why? Three reasons:

• Data enrichment fuels better audience targeting.

• It’s surprisingly easy to leverage enriched customer data.
• Many media buyers overlook the power of third-party data enrichment.

A lot of campaigns start with Google Audiences as a base, and for good reason. Those audiences are free, they give advertisers a head start, and they can perform pretty well. But when you want to refine your audience targeting, that’s when you need to think about data enrichment solutions and how to get them right.

 

What Is Data Enrichment and Why Does It Matter?

Data enrichment can be defined as the process of enhancing existing data by supplementing it with additional insights—such as behavioral, demographic, geographic, and psychographic attributes—to create a more complete and actionable understanding of an audience.

This enables media buyers to refine targeting strategies, improve campaign performance, and gain a competitive edge by moving beyond broad, off-the-shelf audience segments.

Why does it matter? By tapping into data enrichment media buyers can achieve:

1. More Precise Targeting – Instead of relying on broad, generic audience segments, data enrichment provides deeper insights into consumer behaviors, interests, and preferences, allowing media buyers to reach the right people at the right time.
   
2. Competitive Differentiation – Since many advertisers use the same off-the-shelf segments, enriched data gives you a unique advantage by uncovering untapped audience opportunities that competitors overlook.
   
3. Higher Campaign ROI – By refining audience targeting and reducing wasted ad spend, data enrichment helps optimize media buys, leading to better engagement, conversion rates, and overall campaign effectiveness.
   
4. Smarter Media Buying Decisions – Enriched data offers a multi-dimensional view of consumers, helping media buyers understand where, when, and how to connect with their ideal audience across different channels.
   
5. Future-Proofing Against Automation – As media buying automation grows, the ability to leverage enriched data will set top media buyers apart, ensuring they remain valuable and indispensable in an evolving industry.
   

 

 

Example: Data Enrichment in Action

Imagine you’re running a campaign for a nutrition bar brand. The client’s first-party data is limited because consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brands don’t have many direct interactions with customers. Your agency has some first-party data, but only a fraction is relevant to your audience.

Without data enrichment, your campaign might target broad health-conscious consumers or commuters. But real people are more complex than simple demographic labels. Data enrichment allows you to go deeper, revealing insights like:

• The fitness podcasts your target audience listens to
• Their shopping behavior, such as purchasing patterns in organic grocery stores
• Cross-category interests, like wellness retreats or running events

This enhanced audience intelligence helps you deliver highly personalized, cost-effective media buys, reducing wasted ad spend and increasing engagement.

Questions to Ask When Choosing a Data Enrichment Partner

Not all data enrichment providers are created equal. Many third-party data sources seem similar on the surface, but the quality, accuracy, and usability of the data vary significantly. When selecting a data partner, think like a data scientist and ask these key questions:

1. Does the data provide depth and breadth?
   You need multi-dimensional insights, not just more of the same generic data.
2. Is the data tied to unique identifiers?
   A strong data provider integrates with multiple ID frameworks, ensuring you can scale across all channels and avoid fragmented targeting.
3. Does the data cover web, mobile, retail, and TV?
   A cross-channel approach ensures your targeting remains consistent across all consumer touchpoints.
4. Is the onboarding process seamless?
   A user-friendly platform with intuitive analytics and strong customer support makes implementation easy.

For example, if you use Lotame Data Exchange, you can start with over 5,000 pre-packaged audience segments covering demographics, behavioral, B2B, purchase intent and more — and they’re available globally. You can get more refined, with precision demographic and interest audiences. Or you can work with Lotame data specialists to create your own custom blends of first-, second- or third-party data across web, mobile, and TV.

Activating Data Enrichment in Your Media Plan

If the best audience data costs more than free (hint, wink), how do you know if it’s worth it?

The key is to focus on breadth and depth. The richer the audience data, the better it performs in:

• Hyper-personalized messaging

• Granular audience segmentation

• More precise media buying decisions

A smart media plan fueled by weak data might perform OK. But a smart media plan fueled by smart data enrichment can reach new heights. It can perform better because it’s smarter to begin with.

Partnering With Data Experts for Better Enrichment

It’s smart to be a more savvy data buyer, but that doesn’t mean you have to do everything yourself. The real magic happens when you partner with experts in audience data enrichment. We’ve been at it for 18+ years at Lotame so we know a thing or two about data. 

The smartest media buyers we know usually bring us a brief. They talk with us about campaign goals, and we put together a custom audience solution—complete with pricing—within 24 hours. If you need a custom segment immediately, we can have it available in a brand’s platform of choice within 48 hours.

If you do data enrichment right, your bosses at the agency will notice — and so will your clients. You’ll deliver more granular personalization, sharper messaging, and reach out to customer segments that a less sophisticated approach won’t find. 

The smarter you are about data, the faster your career will grow. 

It’s easy when you have the right partners in place. And we can be that partner, all you have to do is reach out. 

By Alex Theriault, Chief Growth Officer and Alison Harding, VP of Data Solutions, EMEA