A common complaint marketers have is delays when trying to launch a campaign. The campaign kickoff was two months ago, with a creative brief based on a brilliant idea that the executive team seemed to support. But somehow, the launch is still pending approval. Sometime’s it’s waiting for asset approval. Sometimes it’s some hiccup on the analytics side. Or even getting the landing pages ready to be approved by the parent company.

To avoid this, companies should template their system and fix any process drag, the invisible friction that slows teams down between ideation and execution.

The Bottleneck Nobody Sees

At Smartt, we like saying “When you want to go fast, go alone. But if you want to go far, go with a team.” One common challenge with the modern campaign is that it requires collaboration with require designers, developers, analysts, automation specialists, and content writers, and each are probably using different tools and workflows, aside from the obvious fact that they are likely to be in different departments or even silos.

And when their systems don’t align, we get the modern bottleneck:

• Multiple revisions, with small slow downs because the file sharing links need additional permissions
• Broken tracking because a developer missed a naming update with a conversion goal, and a snippet didn’t get updated or there
• Delayed launches because IT scheduled maintenance mid-campaign, or because the new landing page tool doesn’t fit the security requirements

Individually, these issues are small. Together, they form a culture of delay that becomes the norm rather than the outlier.
So, how do we fix it? By aligning the 3 T’s.

The Bottleneck Triangle

Every delay in marketing stems from one of three pressure points, what Smartt calls The Bottleneck Triangle:

1. Tools: Too many, too fragmented, or too slow.
2. Talent: Roles unclear, approvals ambiguous, or expertise misaligned.
3. Timelines: Overlapping projects, shifting scopes, and no buffer for testing.

Something magical happens when we fix and balance all three. And unfortunately, it has to be all 3, because the chain breaks at the weakest link. You can’t fix slow approvals with better software alone, just like you can’t automate your way out of unclear ownership.

1. Streamline Your Tools (Before Adding More)

Many teams actually have a tool sprawl problem. Every department adds another “must-have” platform - Asana, Trello, Slack, HubSpot, Monday, Wrike, Notion, ClickUp - until everyone’s using a different source of truth. Going back to the going fast vs going far example, this allows each team to go faster individually, but really slow them down when they have to work together.

Tip 1: Audit your tool stack quarterly.

• Map who uses what and why.
• Consolidate overlapping tools.
• Standardize file-naming and folder conventions.
• Use shared templates for briefs, approvals, and analytics tagging.

Tip 2: Automate recurring steps, not entire processes.
Automation only works when the underlying flow is solid. Start small: automate report pulls, QA reminders, or content versioning, while keeping human control over strategy and approvals.

2. Clarify Ownership and Decision Paths

Campaigns stall when it’s unclear who owns what, especially in cross-functional teams.

Tip 3: Assign a single “Campaign Owner.”
This person isn’t necessarily the designer or strategist, but the integrator. (Or, as we have called in other posts in the past, the “single wringable neck”) Their job os to make sure tasks move, dependencies are flagged, and approvals don’t vanish into email threads.

Tip 4: Define what “approval” actually means.
Too often, “needs approval” really means “needs review” by multiple people who don’t have final authority. Document your approval chain once, and you’ll save dozens of hours of waiting.

Tip 5: Create pre-approved frameworks.
If your brand or parent company requires design or compliance sign-offs, pre-approve templates and structures, not individual campaigns. It turns approvals from weeks into minutes.

3. Rethink Timelines and Buffers

Timelines often look clean on paper but hide unrealistic expectations underneath. For example, once you add in the revision cycles, the timeline may look a lot longer. When this happens, you have a few options:

1. Sometimes, when you realize that you don’t have the internal bandwidth to push things through within a certain window, it’s better to not start at all.
2. Or, you put in a more realistic time line
3. Or, you can cut back on the scope, so that there’s enough time to involve the necessary stakeholders.
4. Or, you put in more focus and resources (like align your stakeholders to focus on the approval for this project instead of other projects)

Tip 6: Add “integration time” to every plan.
Most marketers estimate production hours but forget the time it takes to connect creative, analytics, and web tools. Build that into every timeline.

Tip 7: Schedule testing as a phase, not an afterthought.
Tracking, pixels, and automations always need validation. Treat testing as a formal deliverable, and not “something QA will check later.”

Tip 8: Keep a small rolling buffer.
When every project is back-to-back, one delay dominoes the rest. Keep 15 - 25% of every sprint or month unscheduled. Use it to catch up, test, or innovate.

4. Build a Culture of Flow, Not Firefighting

You can’t fix process drag with software alone. It’s cultural.

Tip 9: Normalize post-mortems on process, not people.
After every major campaign, ask: Where did we lose time? What approvals took longest? Which dependencies weren’t visible soon enough?
Turn that into a playbook update, not a blame session.

Tip 10: Use shared dashboards for visibility.
When everyone can see project status, bottlenecks get solved faster. Use visual cues - green/yellow/red - to make blockers obvious.

Tip 11: Reward proactive clarity.
Make it normal for a team member to raise a flag early. Waiting until “it’s urgent” is what kills agility.

The Takeaway

In short, marketing teams rarely miss deadlines because of bad ideas. They miss them because their systems can’t keep up with their creativity.

If you want to launch faster and stress less, stop asking “Who’s late?” Instead, ask, “Where’s the drag?” Fix that, and your next campaign will be a lot more on time and effortless!

Interested in working with Smartt? Contact us and let’s see if we might be a good fit for each other!