The 5 biggest marketing challenges today—and how to overcome them

Marketing has never been louder, faster, or more chaotic. The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and teams are feeling the pressure to keep up. It seems like every day there's a new platform, a new algorithm, or a new trend to master. All of these rapidly changing marketing challenges can often overshadow the core goal: creating impactful work. 

But behind every campaign, there’s a team trying to stay aligned, hit targets, and still leave room for creativity.These are the real challenges—and understanding them is the first step toward solving them.

Let’s break down the biggest obstacles marketers face today—and explore clear ways to cut through the noise and reclaim focus.

A modern marketing workflow needs more than just more tools

For most marketing teams, the challenge isn’t a lack of tools—it’s too many of them. Files live in one place, feedback in another, and knowledge gets buried across platforms. Staying focused takes more time than the work itself.

That’s why the most effective teams have found ways to reduce friction by building workflows that support the real pace of modern marketing:

• Smarter systems for finding information—so teams can locate what they need, instantly
• Streamlined feedback tools—so reviews stay on track and decisions happen faster
• Connected workspaces—so everyone stays aligned, no matter where they’re working

Teams are solving these challenges with tools designed to bring clarity to chaos—like those from Dropbox, built to support the pace and pressure of modern marketing.

Challenge 1: Everything is urgent, but nothing is findable

In today's fast-paced environment, marketers are bombarded with an overwhelming amount of content, files, and disconnected systems. The sheer volume of information can be paralyzing. Your content strategist has three tabs open, your designer can’t find the brief, and your CMO is asking for version three of a deck they’ve never seen. It’s an all-too-familiar scenario, and it’s a massive drain on productivity.

And it’s not just frustrating—it’s costly. According to research, 27% of employees feel overloaded by information. When tools and knowledge are scattered, teams spend more time searching than creating. Context gets lost, energy dips, and priorities get buried.

Find what you need, without the chaos

Dropbox Dash pulls files, links, and messages from your connected apps, like Notion, Slack, Drive, and Dropbox into a single search bar—so you’re not jumping between tabs or digging through folders. It’s built for clarity, not complexity—helping your team get what they need and get back to work faster.

Challenge 2: AI sounds smart—but isn’t helping your real work (yet)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere in marketing—but practical guidance on how to use it is still lacking. Many teams feel the pressure to adopt it without the time or training to make it work meaningfully. Instead of helping, AI can feel like just one more thing to figure out.

The 2024 State of Marketing AI Report found that 67% of marketers cited lack of education and training as the top barrier to adoption. The pressure to adopt new tools is real—but it’s not always helpful when the day-to-day is full of buried briefs and looming deadlines. In moments like these, teams don’t need more tools—they need smarter ways to work with what they already have.

A more useful kind of AI—built into Dash

Dash universal search uses AI to help marketers rediscover work that’s already been done—pulling in relevant context, past content, and decision history across your tools.

It’s not about creating more. It’s about unlocking the value of what your team already knows—so you can move forward without starting over.

Challenge 3: Creative and performance teams are still misaligned

The creative team wants time to explore ideas. The performance team needed the campaign live yesterday. And somewhere in the middle? A 100-email thread filled with unclear comments, 15 file versions, and no approved asset in sight.

This disconnect isn’t about talent—it’s about the pressure of timelines, the breakdown of communication, and the lack of clear approvals. When teams aren’t aligned, quality—and momentum—both suffer.

• Timelines: Creative work needs space to develop, but campaigns often face tight deadlines that force rushed decisions
• Communication: Long email threads and unclear feedback make it easy for key details to get lost
• Clarity: Without a clear source of truth, teams end up working on outdated files or misaligned ideas

Clearer reviews, fewer back-and-forths

With Dropbox Replay, feedback happens right on the work—so everyone sees exactly what needs to change, where, and why. Comments stay attached to the work itself, so feedback is easy to follow and decisions don’t get lost. With clear version history and side-by-side views, everyone stays aligned—and the final version stays final.

Watch how Replay simplifies reviews.

Challenge 4: Your team’s smaller—but your calendar didn’t get the memo

Headcounts are down. Deadlines aren’t. Marketers are being asked to move faster with fewer resources, tighter budgets, and leaner teams. The pressure to perform hasn’t eased—it’s intensified. In fact, marketing budgets have dropped from 9.1% to 7.7% of company revenue year over year, according to Gartner—even as expectations continue to climb.

The result? Hours lost to duplicate work, missing files, and endless questions like, “Which version is final?” These everyday inefficiencies add up, draining energy and momentum from already stretched teams.

When marketers are stuck searching instead of strategizing, creativity suffers. And without the right systems in place, the cycle repeats—burnout rises, productivity dips, and strategic work takes a back seat.

Less rework—more room to think

When everything stays synced automatically with cloud storage and shared folders, teams spend less time redoing work—and more time making progress. Dropbox helps keep files organized, up to date, and easy to access, so there’s no confusion about what’s final. And when speed matters, Dash helps you find what you need fast—without digging through folders or chasing links.

Challenge 5: Collaboration feels harder, not easier

With remote teams, agencies, freelancers, and internal stakeholders, marketing collaboration has never been more complex. The tools exist—but people still feel disconnected.

In fact, 7 in 10 workers say they’re spending more time coordinating with teammates but feel less connected. And when you’re trying to launch a campaign, that’s more than a vibe problem—it’s a delay risk.

A shared space that actually brings people together

Dropbox creates a shared workspace where everyone—from your video editor to your agency partner—can access the same files, leave feedback, and stay in sync. Replay keeps creative feedback centralized. Dash connects the apps you already use. And layered permissions ensure everyone gets what they need—without compromising control.

Just ask Bboy City—they brought an entire documentary to life with collaborators across time zones, all working from a shared Dropbox workspace.

Bringing it all together: Quiet clarity in a noisy world

These challenges aren’t about creativity—they’re about clarity. Dropbox helps you clear the way, lets your team spend less time looking for work, and more time doing it. By providing a centralized, organized, and collaborative workspace, Dropbox empowers marketing teams to focus on what they do best: creating impactful and engaging content.

Find your flow—Dropbox helps you get there faster

When the chaos clears, great work happens. Reclaim your clarity with tools that align your team, your tools, and your ideas—all in one place. Discover how Dropbox can help you streamline your workflows, improve collaboration, and achieve your goals faster.