Looking for ways to boost your career?  Check out this article from Entrepreneur on building your personal brand and take your career to the next level!  

You hear a lot about why marketers and sales people should create buyer persons but what exactly are they?   Essentially a buyer person is a fact-based avatar of the different buyer types that would be interested in your products or services.  Using market research and data on existing customers (such as demographics, goals and purchasing patterns), organizations create different personas to help managers develop strong sales and marketing strategies, create content and  plan for new products and services.    Just like most things in life, the rule of garbage-in-garbage-out also applies to creating buyer personas.  The more detail and effort that goes […]

  A new startup is hoping to use the latest and greatest in ecommerce and digital marketing technology to change the way parents shop for kid’s clothes.  Check out this article from Forbes about the newest trend in back to school shopping. Looking to update your ecommerce and marketing technology?  Aluent is here to help you take your business to the next level.  We are a team of dedicated professionals who come to work every day with one purpose: to make technology human again. Aluent Group knows that real solutions are found where people and technology meet. That is why we take […]

For many sales and marketing professionals understanding the buying cycle of a prospective customer is a key component of success.   It allows businesses to reach the customer where they are and provide them with the information they are looking for at a specific point in the process.  There are three primary points in the cycle:  Awareness, Consideration and Purchase.  Let’s look at each step in the cycle in greater detail. Awareness In this stage the prospect knows they have a need or problem to be solved.  The prospect may not be aware of any solution to their problem or they […]

With the ever increasing number of prospective customers using mobile technology, creating an app for your business is moving from a luxury to a necessity.    According to recent data from Statista, worldwide there have been over 100 billion mobile app downloads as of June 2015 and this number is expected to continue to grow at a rapid rate.  Apps can be a very expensive, albeit necessary, investment for a business.  The Next Web identified 7 helpful design tips to help businesses get the most out of that investment: Use the Traditional Rules of Design Know Your Users Map out the Content First Use Familiar […]

 Wondering where to start when it comes to the Microsoft Universal Apps?  Check out this recent article from Gizmodo to learn about 10 fun apps to start off your weekend! Click here    

Although US adoption of digital wallets has been slow compared to China and Japan, there is little doubt that they are here to stay.  Younger consumers in particular are more comfortable using technology driven payment options than using traditional payment methods such as writing a check.  Despite its slow start, businesses can expect consumer demand for this payment method to grow in the years ahead.  Savvy businesses that adopt digital wallet technology early can realize several benefits including increased competitiveness, increased online sales and better security. If you are looking to reach a younger audience accepting digital payments can give […]

Google Map’s new features provide businesses an opportunity to take advantage of the rapid growth of local search and drive traffic into their stores. Click here to learn more.

Contextual shopping has been in the market for quite a while now.  View an item on Amazon and for a few days after you will see ADs for the item you viewed, or similar items, on social media.  As technology advances we will continue to see contextual commerce advance as well.  Businesses should pay attention to three trends in contextual commerce:  automated shopping, m-commerce and location advertising. Automated Shopping Technology is changing the nature of the shopping experience.  For example, Samsung and LG have replaced the handwritten list and trip to the store with refrigerators equipped with built-in computer touchscreens […]