Ever debate your co-workers about the maximum number of touches that should occur with a new customer before he makes a purchase? A moderator for that discussion is now on the job. It’s one of the first research topics on the docket for the Marketo Institute, which officially opens its digital doors this week.
The Institute’s goal is to be a resource for CMOs seeking peer-driven collaboration and insights. These will be mined from more than 12 million digital marketing campaigns, 900 million unique contact records, and 224 billion actions warehoused by Marketo over seven years of work with 3,300 companies. That raw data will be polished by participating marketing agencies, management consulting firms, and research houses, as well as educators. Earlier this year, Marketo formed a partnership with the Orfalea College of Business at the California Polytechnic State University to develop curricula in keeping with the Institute’s philosophy.
The fruits of the Institute’s studies will be published on a quarterly basis. In planning stages is an annual event where research will be presented to users, educators, and thought leaders.
“Marketers are hungry for data-driven benchmarks and actionable insights that they can use to drive their future plans and determine the success of their current efforts,” says Marketo cofounder Jon Miller, executive director of the Marketo Institute. “The marketing classes in universities and business schools don’t teach the new techniques and strategies required for today’s marketing. Without the right guidance, marketers are forced to rely on guesswork, tribal knowledge, and trial and error to figure out what works.”
The Marketo Institute announced today that it will focus its research on five key areas of marketing:
- Customer lifecycle;
- customer engagement;
- digital marketing;
- marketing ROI; and
- marketing operations.
Besides the consumer touchpoint project, initial study topics include what mix of channels and devices brands are using to interact with customers at different stages of the customer journey and what percentage of revenue marketing should generate across different industries.
