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Today's lead article in 1to1 Magazine, "Social Media's Impact on Offline Sales," discusses how companies use social coupons, online contests, and other tools to promote offline activity. Chelsea Piers and Sonterra Spa use Groupon to build awareness with large discounts. In the short term they may lose money, but both companies have found that social shoppers are more likely to stay, buy more, share their experiences with friends, and become advocates than offline shoppers. These short-term financial hits have led to long-term customer retention and more sales over time.

In another example, Rent411.com works with Chief Ingredient to offer a sweepstakes for interested renters via the mobile channel when they go look at apartments. For each apartment visitors check out, they scan a bar code on their phone that enters them into the contest to win rent discounts and other prizes.

These bridges between the virtual and physical worlds are crucial to tie efforts to the bottom line. And strong coordination is needed to see how they connect. Experts say that location-based services seem to show the most promise, with sites like Foursquare, Yelp, and others integrating with mobile phone GPS features.

It's a whole new world out there; one that requires a focus on the marketing big picture. For companies that can integrate online, offline, and mobile activities, there is much opportunity. What do you think? Do you know of companies making those connections? Where might an organization run into trouble?