5 Creative Ways to Use Marketing Data (That Most Brands Haven’t Tried Yet)

I’m an easy mark for life hacks. You know the ones I mean.

• White vinegar removes sweat stains — critical for boy moms.
• Coat your snow shovel in Vaseline so the snow doesn’t stick — essential in snow country.
• Coffee grounds make great fertilizer — even for those of us who can’t keep a cactus alive.

I could go on.

But how about marketing data hacks? The kind that doesn’t involve vinegar or Vaseline but can save your campaign, your creative, or your budget.

There are plenty of “best practices” for using data, but there are also more creative ways to use marketing data than most brands realize. The key is to look beyond the dashboards and think about what your data can really tell you.

Here are five you might not have tried yet.

1. Use data to see who’s visiting—then ask if they’re the right people

Everyone loves a good CTR, but not all clicks are created equal.

For one CPG brand we worked with, strong click-throughs turned out to be misleading—the people actually landing on the site were younger, lower-income consumers who weren’t in the market for premium products. The impressions looked great on paper but weren’t driving conversions.

When they compared ad data with audience insights, the fix became clear: their real buyers were older and wealthier. Once they started using data not just for targeting, but for storytelling, they could optimize both creative and spend to match the audience that mattered.

The takeaway: don’t just measure volume—measure fit. The right data provider can help you match the “who” behind the clicks with your brand’s ideal audience.

2. Use data to identify your growth audiences

It’s easy to target the obvious group—the one your product was “meant” for. But the magic happens when you look beyond them.

Picture a luxury SUV brand. Conventional wisdom says target well-off families with kids and dogs. But what if your growth audience isn’t them at all? Maybe it’s high-net-worth twenty-somethings buying for badge value instead of cargo space.

With the right data, you can find those audiences, see how they differ (the cat owners shopping at Whole Foods versus the dog owners at Walmart), and craft creative campaigns for each—with minimal overlap.

That’s one of the most powerful and creative ways to use marketing data: not just to reach your core audience, but to uncover the next one.

3. Use data to make the most of major sponsorships

Sponsoring a big event is great—measuring its impact is another story.

Instead of limiting your brand exposure to what happens inside the stadium, think about everything happening around it.

If you’re a financial services brand sponsoring the U.S. Open, for example, you can use addressable audience data to reach attendees before, during, and after the event. Think digital out-of-home on subway routes, mobile retargeting near the venue, or personalized follow-ups once fans are home scrolling through highlights.

You don’t have to just “think outside the box.” Think outside the stadium.

Want more insights into targeting sports fans? We got some insider tips pulled straight from Lotame data. 

4. Use data to build lookalike models—from influencers

Influencer marketing is no longer a side hustle—it’s a main channel. When Unilever announced it would dedicate half its media spend to social channels and boost influencer investment twentyfold, it wasn’t just chasing trends. It was acknowledging a data opportunity.

By analyzing the audiences of key influencers, you can build lookalike models to find new prospects who share similar interests and behaviors.

For instance, if your beauty brand partners with an influencer whose followers binge Netflix rom-coms and period dramas on Prime, those insights can fuel targeting across CTV, social, and even traditional media.

Creative data use starts when you connect the dots between influencer audiences and purchase intent—not just engagement metrics.

5. Use data plus AI to do more than humans can (without another late night in Excel)

AI doesn’t replace marketers—it just handles the grunt work at superhuman speed.

By layering AI on top of your campaign data, you can uncover patterns you’d never spot manually: which audience segments are warming fastest, which creative performs by time of day, or when it’s time to pivot mid-flight.

Think of AI as your most tireless intern—one who doesn’t need caffeine or pep talks.

Together, AI and data can help you optimize mid-campaign, adjust creative messaging, and build smarter follow-up programs after launch. It’s not about working harder; it’s about working with sharper insight and less guesswork.

The bottom line: data is the fuel—your creativity determines the distance

Every marketer has access to data. The real advantage lies in how you use it.

From diagnosing who’s really clicking, to discovering new growth audiences, to extending sponsorships beyond the event itself—these are the kinds of creative ways to use marketing data that help brands stand out.

So yes, I’ll keep my life hacks. But when it comes to marketing? 

Give me data hacks any day.

Your next great marketing “hack”? Partnering with Lotame to make your data work smarter.