Expedia partners with M2 Media Group

This is another interesting development. Print media in a tie up with a leading online travel site:

Read more about it at HotelMarketing.com

Today’s hybrid consumer needs to be reached at many different touch points across channels and this could lead to interesting marketing campaigns conducted off-line in print with conversion online at the travel site. Of course in reverse it should lead to increased subscriber numbers by exposing the magazine on the site. Both sides could be the winners.

What raised my interest is the idea of micro-sites as enhanced landing pages for the fulfillment of print campaigns. This is an area for improvement over what’s been done in the past, where URLs are posted on print campaigns but not with a specific conversion objective in mind. A well constructed micro-site branded with the campaign theme and only with relevant products that the interested shopper can purchase immediately online should increase conversion rates and be a branding tool online at the same time.

Destinations could be a big beneficiary of such an approach to go beyond their traditional information franchise and offer online conversion on micro-sites featuring relevant products by third party partner providers. Who will be the first to use this highly flexible and portable approach?