Marketing efficiency in 2025: Overcoming the 3 biggest obstacles
Marketing teams are under constant pressure to do more, move faster, and stay perfectly on-brand—often with limited resources. But what’s standing in their way?
In our latest Frontify webinar, “Marketing Efficiency – 3 Marketing Obstacles and How to Overcome Them”, we explored precisely that. We grounded the discussion in insights from over 400 senior marketers across industries surveyed by Frontify to uncover the most common pain points in day-to-day brand and marketing operations.
Together with our expert panel — Chris Hannon (Senior Marketing Manager, Frontify), Joe Hale (CEO, Dragon Rouge), Tanischa Kluivert (Marketing Manager, Apollo & Leonardo Hotels), Gideon Cosme (Head of Brand Design, Discovery Limited), and Ralph Windsor (Publisher, DAM News) — we unpacked the blockers and, more importantly, how to move past them.
- Scattered brand assets lead to inefficiencies. Centralizing tools, content, and teams is non-negotiable.
- Static toolkits slow everything down. Today’s workflows need flexible, real-time, digital-first resources.
- Templates supercharge teams. They boost speed, quality, and consistency—without killing creativity.
- AI plays a supporting role. It’s an advisor for efficiency and optimization, not a replacement for creative thinking.
- Actual efficiency starts with structure. Strong systems empower better brand building.
These five takeaways highlight the biggest challenges and how to solve them. But what do these obstacles look like in practice—and how can teams really move past them? Let’s take a closer look:
Scattered systems = lost time
Teams lose time and momentum when assets and brand guidelines are spread across drives, PDFs, and hard-to-use DAMs. A central brand platform eliminates the chaos and helps everyone — from marketing to sales to external partners — work faster and more aligned.
Outdated toolkits can’t keep up
PDFs and PowerPoint decks don’t match the pace of modern marketing. The panel agreed: dynamic, digital-first toolkits are essential for running campaigns that adapt in real time, empower local teams, and cut down on back-and-forth.
Templates: Practical, not boring
Templates tend to get a bad reputation. Yet the truth is that they’ve become essential for scaling content without losing control. When done right, they help teams move faster, stay consistent, and create high-quality materials without reinventing the wheel every time. The creative team still sets the tone, but templates make it easier for everyone else to stay on-brand.
AI that helps
AI is making its way into more marketing workflows—but not to steal the show. Think of it as an intelligent layer behind the scenes, helping you surface the right assets, sharpen messaging, or keep your tone on track. It’s not replacing your creative team—it’s giving them more space to do the work that matters.The message was clear: to build efficient, agile marketing teams, brands need better systems, not just faster outputs.
