In my last column, I discussed the results from a spring 2006 survey about the Academic Resource Center (ARC) at AMA’s MarketingPower.com Web site. The survey data was invaluable, letting us know how to prioritize our content, which areas to build on, and what material to add. In summary, respondents wanted teaching content, such as case studies, class videos, and teachable news stories; research content, such as reports from conferences on hot topics and background introductions to research topics; and career content, such as advice and information on managing internship programs.

As part of the survey, we asked respondents familiar with the ARC to tell us which pages they had visited. Respondents reported visiting the following sections most often: Syllabi, Cases, Course Materials, Teaching Section, Calls for Papers, and Research.

To complement the survey data, I looked at the actual click rates for individual ARC pages during the survey period. They tell a slightly different story. Here are the top 10 ARC pages, ordered by click popularity:

1. Main ARC Page
2. Marketing Journals
3. AMA Academic Placement
4. Marketing PhD Programs
5. Research Menu
6. Career Menu
7. ELMAR
8. Summer Educators’ Conference 2006
9. Syllabus Collection
10. Teaching Menu

You will note that some pages respondents reported visiting most often did not make this top 10 list, and vice versa. Specifically, Marketing Journals, PhD Programs, ELMAR, and the 2006 Summer Educators’ Conference were all popular destinations last spring that were not mentioned in the survey.

The behavioral click-stream data for the ARC offer additional insights into our field. Many ARC pages are categorized by their relevant substantive area. For example, homework assignments for a course in marketing communications are categorized under “promotion,” and a reading list on marketing metrics falls under the “methods” content area. Each content area has a home page or menu. Here is a list of content areas, sorted by click popularity: consumer behavior, methods, society, relationships, e-commerce, promotion, tourism, management, entrepreneurship, product, business-to-business, strategy, global, distribution, retailing, sports, services, sector marketing, sales, and direct marketing.

We can see that our fellow marketing academics tend to focus on consumer behavior as a primary area, followed by methods, and then the social aspects of marketing.

Finally, I looked at clicks to the Marketing Syllabus Collection. In order, the top three syllabi pages visited were the undergraduate pages for Principles of Marketing, International Marketing, and E-Commerce and Internet Marketing. I would hypothesize that Principles is the number one course taught if ranked by the number of students enrolled. (We all have to fill a lot of seats for this course every semester.) The dual importance of the internationalization of the marketing curriculum and the impact of IT on the marketing process would seem to explain the interest in the other two courses. Perhaps schools across the United States and around the world are looking to add materials and courses in these areas, accounting for the heavier use of these destinations among ARC syllabi surfers.

The data confirm that our colleagues are finding valuable materials and ideas readily available at the ARC. I urge you to check it out if you haven’t already done so. You just might find something new and different to consider.

-Charles Hofacker, Florida State University