Savvy travel marketers know advertising in newspaper and magazine email newsletters generates solid results. But the class of online-only lifestyle brands publishing daily or weekly emails is becoming increasingly important, and, in some cases, more influential than its traditional media outlet competitors.

The headline of this piece might be a bit misleading as it references affluent travelers, and I am going to tell you a personal story. I'm not exactly an affluent traveler, but bear with me while I paint you a picture. It's a cold night in Boston in December, and I am at a fundraising event for a wonderful local organization.

I've been writing about travel marketing for a long time, and the changes over that period, of course, are overwhelming. While early campaigns were Internet-free, they are now dominated by online initiatives - heavy on Facebook contests and other social media efforts (although one arena that hasn't changed much involves tie-ins with movies and television.)

If you pop on over to the Amazon Best Sellers list this graduation season, you'll see a phenomenon as predictable as the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano. Oh, the Places You'll Go!, the last book written by Dr. Seuss, is making its annual pilgrimage to the top of the charts. Released in 1990, the book has become a favorite grad gift the world around, thanks to its message that the future is a bright and wondrous world of possibilities.

The great thing about consumer trends is that they lead us to think about the future in new and innovative ways. To help my team and me ponder where things are headed, we subscribe to and regularly consult the trend-spotting service Iconoculture.