Doing the online/offline two-step

Call it the online, offline two-step.

It goes something like this: Dot-com venture stakes a claim in the offline world, either by starting its own magazine or buying part of a bricks-and-mortar business. The strategy drives traffic to the company’s Web site, attracts new customers, and increases sales.

This industry’s latest case-in-point is TravelGolf.com’s partnership with Turnstiles’ Golf and Travel Magazine. The deal, which is expected to be announced next week, is an alliance intended to “increase banner ad sales and readership,” according to both companies.

Under the terms of the agreement, TravelGolf.com will effectively become Golf and Travel Magazine’s Web site.

Internet companies have a long history of doing the online, offline two-step. When America Online still ranked a distant third behind Prodigy and CompuServe as an Internet Service Provider, it launched a magazine. I remember, because I wrote for it. A few years later, a little-known upstart called Yahoo teamed up with publisher Ziff Davis to create Yahoo! Internet Life.

Lately, the travel dot-coms have gotten into the act of magazine publishing, too. Expedia created Expedia Travels magazine, a destination title with an online bent, and Travelocity released a travel magazine “for the digital generation” called – surprise, surprise – Travelocity magazine. Publishing experts suggest that the online sites have nearly exhausted their expansion opportunities on the Web, and must now try to find new audiences offline. Which is probably true.

Considering an offline venture? Here’s what we know so far:

Marketing is important, but don’t overlook content. In fact, content factored prominently into the Golf and Travel Magazine/TravelGolf.com agreement. Golf and Travel’s news headlines and stories will be featured in all 19 TravelGolf.com online publications, according to the companies. TravelGolf.com will also become the default travel site for the popular GolfWeek.com, which is Golf and Travel’s current online presence. As Rich Jaroslovsky, the president of the Online News Association and a former colleague of mine at Dow Jones, said in a recent speech at Columbia University: “Content isn’t king – good content is.”

There’s no one right way to do the two-step. We’ve seen several permutations of this dance, including online ventures into the offline world, vice versa, and something in between. In a 1998 column, for example, I wrote about a three-way content deal between Craighead Publications, Arthur Andersen, and The Economist Intelligence Unit. The companies had launched a service called CountryNet, which they billed as an online information service designed to give expatriates and business travelers the information needed to relocate and operate knowledgeably, safely and effectively in new markets. Interestingly, this idea has been further developed by a soon-to-be-launched company called iJet, which I’ve also written about in this column. Bottom line: don’t let others define what you can and can’t do.

The two-step takes a commitment. This is no ordinary dance – if you haven’t practiced your steps, you’ll get kicked off the metaphorical floor. One high-profile travel dot-com that seemed to “dabble” in bricks and mortar, at least in my opinion, was ByeByeNow.com. When I wondered whether ByeByeNow.com was about to go bye-bye last year, many doubted my analysis. But in late January, following two painful staff cutbacks, the Pompano Beach, Fla., company filed for bankruptcy protection. Although it claimed that the market for Internet companies had dried up, I believe its demise had more to do with the fact that ByeByeNow.com couldn’t make a compelling argument for its online/offline business model. At least it didn’t to me. Instead, it tried to dazzle reporters and investors with a flashy Web site, an “A-list” management team, and a celebrity endorsement.

The two-step may ensure your survival. This is pure speculation, because there are no reliable statistics on the success rates of dot-coms with offline ventures – content-related or otherwise. I remember the skepticism with which the very first online travel company’s print advertising initiative was greeted almost three years ago. That was Preview Travel’s multi-million dollar “Travel on Your Terms” campaign, which ran in glossy magazines such as Travel + Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler. At that time, Karen Askey, then senior vice president of consumer marketing at Preview, told me nonchalantly, “Think of it as an evolution of our advertising efforts.” The rest of the interactive travel business is equally blasé about maintaining some kind of offline presence – advertising or otherwise – in 2001. But do they do it because everyone else is, or because it’s an essential part of their business model?

Expect to see more deals like TravelGolf.com’s in the near future. As travel Internet companies face increasing profit pressures in coming months, they may turn to an offline partner, or an offline venture, for the stability needed to survive.

Based on the track record of previous ventures, this two-step might be a winner.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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