Focusing on what truly counts: Turning a bold vision into meaningful results

“Data that says something ‘works’ is only valid under the exact circumstances in which it was tested. Which means you’ve optimized yourself into a pinhole view of what you think works.” I remember my partner, Shannon Stevens, saying this to a Client and it stopping them in their tracks. Shannon was completely right – in the ongoing cycle of build a campaign, launch it, test it, learn what works and then apply to the next campaign, the realm of what’s possible gets more and more narrow.

In financial services, it’s easy to get swept into reactive campaigns and piecemeal tactics based on what “works.” The result is rather than creating what’s possible, you deploy what’s feasible. And while that may be forward motion, it’s not necessarily forward progress. That’s where a target state vision comes in. A target state vision isn’t about predicting the future. It’s about defining and ruthlessly focusing on the future experience you aspire to deliver in order to meet the needs of your audience—even if you can’t get there quite yet. Done well, it becomes a rallying point for decisions, alignment, and creative energy, and gives room to deploy approaches that may fall outside of the known boundaries of what’s effective today. Plus it can serve as a roadmap to help build the case for budget and resource allocation to bring that vision to life.

Here are four tips to getting the most out of a target state exercise:

1. Clarify Your Biggest Wins A target state vision isn’t a mood board of random ideas. It’s a curated picture of what success looks like, grounded in your marketing goals. This keeps you from diluting your efforts with half-baked initiatives and helps you zero in on strategies that are actually going to move the needle and get you closer to your target state. So you need to start with an audacious goal of where you want to be. Because the truth is that the fastest way to mediocre results is not thinking big enough.

2. Gather Input Without Losing Momentum Bring your team along the way: share research, host ideation sessions, and get feedback from all relevant stakeholders. This fosters buy-in, speeds up alignment, and ensures your future-state vision aligns with actual business and customer needs.

3. Make It Work Across Channels A target state isn’t platform-specific—it’s strategic. Whether you’re concepting direct mail, social campaigns, or a new OOH presence, your future-state framework helps you stay consistent and focused. Make sure your vision is broad enough to support your customer and business anywhere they meet.

4. Use The Vision to Focus By aiming high, you gain clarity on what truly matters before investing in efforts that will be the building blocks to get to your end vision. This keeps you from launching a dozen disconnected campaigns just to “see what sticks.” This also frees up focus and budget for what genuinely resonates with your audience, and meets your goals. In short, your target state vision becomes the filter: Does this idea help us get there?

This isn’t about perfection. It’s about purpose, and giving your team a shared, clear North Star to build towards. And in a category like financial services where success is predicated on having your customer’s trust, that clarity of purpose might give your brand the best path to earning it.