TL;DR – How you slice and dice your tech gives your clients the mixtape experience that adds value and client retention.

Back in the Day

I might be the quintessential 90s kid. Maybe you were too. Those pre-internet, pre-Winamp days were spent listening to the radio waiting to catch the song you wanted to hear while your two fingers were ready to press record on your boom box. If you got really bold, you’d sign up for BMG or Columbia House and grab CDs for pennies. Regardless of where the music originated, one of the coolest things that happened in those days was someone handing you a mixtape. 

Of course, there were the guys who crossed the line from cool to creepy when they made mixtapes with voice over commentary. I knew a guy who put a mixtape on his crush’s car with a dozen roses only to find out later it was her brother’s car. His intros to Boys II Men songs led straight to the End of the Road. As my kids would say now – cringey. 

Let’s Get Personal

The idea of creating mixtapes gave way to ipods and shuffling – ultimately hyper personalized music selection. Spotify has made the process of discovering new music and adding it to our playlists incredibly smooth. It’s not just what we’re listening to that’s delivering on hyper personalization. Technology has been driven by consumer demand to take what’s best for each of us individually and allow us to access the pieces and parts we love.

Spotify Your Tech Stack

In the world of wealth management software and the even broader world of financial services technology, RIAs, Family Offices, Broker Dealers, IMOs have all been struggling to take advantage of their own mixtapes. Sure, there have been integrations between a lot of software, but plenty of the songs are getting stuck on systems we can’t add in seamlessly. The contracts we signed say we own the data, but if you can’t access all the parts you want and only the parts you want, what good is it to say it’s yours?

At the Risk of Sounding like the Weird Guy from your Algebra Class, I Think You Might like this Song

It’s time to sit down with your team and write down what you want your experiences to be, without the current limitations. What are the best songs you should include? Don’t get stuck on the fact that the pieces are all over the place. Just figure out what you want to include on your mixtape. 

Of course, we’re all in this moment together, so we’re likely going to have a few songs that are the same. You don’t have to put an original song on the mixtape to make it great. It’s often just the order that blows your friends’ minds.

Turn it Up

How are you going to slice and dice your tech to give your clients a unique experience? Once you know that part, add it to your value proposition. It’s what justifies your fees. It’s what sets you apart. It’s how you deliver real value. And digitizing that experience is how you build a business at scale. 

You curate what you want. Milemarker will integrate your data properly, so that you can select the songs you want to play in the spots you want to play them.  

Let me know when you’re ready to share your playlist.