Marketing tech

Marketing tech

Building from scratch in n8n can get overwhelming-especially for no-code users, developers, and fast-moving teams who don't have time to troubleshoot every step. That's where pre-built templates come in handy. They help you automate faster, avoid manual setup errors, and connect your tools with fewer hiccups. In this blog, we've rounded up some of the best free n8n templates to kickstart your automation-whether you're syncing data, sending alerts, or creating multi-step workflows.

The breakup that wasn't supposed to be possible: Publicly, Google has argued that breaking up its ad tech stack would be all but impossible. Privately, it's been mapping out how to do exactly that. Internal documents during the trial revealed that for years, Google has been pressure-testing how a separation might work. "Project Sunday", launched in 2020 and revisited in 2021, explored how to split key components of its ad tech stack within its own infrastructure.

If you're a business owner or sales leader at a manufacturing company, you've probably asked this question: "We're spending money on Google Ads, but are we getting the right leads?" It's a frustratingly common problem. You see clicks, you see traffic, but the sales pipeline isn't filling up with the kind of quote requests your team can actually close. The issue often isn't your ads; it's the data you're feeding the machine.

Amazon's ad ambitions now reach well beyond the simple "sponsor my product" paradigm. Its presence spans audio, gaming, sports, and streaming content - all areas where it can both insert itself and monetize. More lucratively, Amazon controls trillions of data points from its retail business, giving it a unique ability to connect exposure to actual purchasing behavior (i.e., measurement). Combine content reach with direct shopper signals, and you get a formidable pitch to advertisers.

Tubi is working with IRIS.TV, a contextual targeting company acquired by Viant last November, to tag much of its on-demand content for emotional or thematic content, using categories like "joyful" or "travel." The idea is that advertisers will be able to invest, at a more granular level, against inventory that is suitable for their brands and avoid TV that isn't.

Vibe marketing used to be a punchline. OpenAI is turning it into a product strategy. That probably wasn't the intent when CEO Sam Altman rolled out a slate of updates at the company's first developer conference in two years earlier this week, but the subtext was hard to miss: OpenAI wants ChatGPT to be the operating system for everything, from enterprise workflows to toys, and yes, marketing too.

If you ask someone in ad tech what makes an ad "quality," chances are they'll fire off a familiar answer: "Viewable." "Human." And just like that - it's case closed. But consider this claim: The above barely scratches the surface. Yes, for years, these two metrics - human and viewable - shaped how advertisers measure, price and evaluate ad placements, treating them as matter-of-fact, not pausing to question them.

More than 70 companies gathered for the workshop, roughly half of which were publishers - a handful from Europe. The rest were a mix of big tech representing their respective LLMs, tech vendors and cloud edge companies Cloudflare and Fastly, who are now taking a far more active role in helping publishers block unauthorized bots, shifting from background tech enablers to vocal gatekeepers in the AI era.

In January, Index Exchange CEO Andrew Casale forecasted a "tsunami of supply" heading for programmatic ad market as more major sports and other live events become available to stream. That raised the question: How would the programmatic supply chain handle this inventory influx? That's a big question. And like many big questions, the best way to tackle it is to break it down into smaller problems and address those in turn.

Now that sketch did have a glaring omission: audio. Time to take another look and add audio into the mix. Audio is one of the most overlooked channels in data-driven marketing. Sure, it has measurement issues and can't compete with the last-click attribution "goalhangers", taking all the glory and reward for handy conversion tap-in (Google, Meta, Amazon et al). But that will be fixed, as we build AI powered attribution.

But as advertisers shift toward full-funnel strategies, RMNs are evolving well beyond the "conversion-only" mindset. By harnessing deep, high-frequency consumer insights, they can now deliver value across every stage of the buying journey, building awareness, driving consideration and strengthening loyalty. The key to unlocking this broader potential? Seamlessly bridging on-site and off-site advertising, connecting with consumers wherever they are and creating cohesive, high-impact customer journeys that maximize ROI.

You view something on an Instagram Reel or a Snapchat post and you go to a website and then purchase. That doesn't have to happen that day.

"Index Marketplaces has truly revolutionised the industry by enabling startups like inPowered AI to innovate directly on the sell side," said Pirouz Nilforoush, co-founder and president, inPowered AI. "With the launch of the Data Vendor Ecosystem, startups will be able to take that innovation even further, creating faster, smarter solutions that deliver real outcomes for advertisers and publishers. We're proud to be a part of this movement with Index Exchange."

First off, TikTok is giving advertisers more control over their Smart+ campaigns, including the capacity to customize the level of automation in their targeting, budget, and creative elements, module-by-module. As you can see in this example, you'll now have explicit control options in each section of your Smart+ campaign set-up, which will enable you to manually set each element, if you choose. Or you can let Smart+ automate each aspect for you, which will lean on TikTok's improving AI targeting to drive results.

Over that time, advertisers across North America, Latin America, the European Union and Asia Pacific will have had the chance to move over to Amazon. Many likely will. When they do, they'll be onboarded via Amazon Ads reps or through the ad tech activation partner program, depending on their size, agency ties and service-level agreements. It's the equivalent of a concierge handoff into what's fast becoming one of the most powerful ways to buy ads on the open web.