With the recent growth in mobile shopping, coupled with new technologies that bring online shopping to the physical world (and vice-versa), the lines between online and offline have blurred. It’s no longer prudent to keep offline and online marketing efforts completely separate from one another, yet many retailers still do. Below are some tips for blending your digital and physical marketing efforts, to increase sales and give your customers a better, more consistent shopping experience across your different channels, ultimately strengthening your brand.

Combine online and offline promotions and customer interactions

With the current craze around sites like Groupon and Living Social, many brands are making offers online that can be redeemed in a physical store. Aside from the obvious benefits of reaching people wherever they are, these types of online offers also allow retailers to track the influence of the web on in-store purchases. Similarly, you can give customers a special code on the receipt from their in-store purchase that can be entered online to receive additional offers. If you have persistent cookies in place, you can then tie this purchase to previous online activity, and continue to monitor how the customer interacts with your brand.

You can also bring the online shopping experience in-store by adding kiosks that shoppers can use to search for product information and availability in real time – and check for other locations or order it online if the store they’re in is out of stock.

Maintain a consistent experience across multiple channels

As today’s shoppers conduct research, compare prices and make purchases from a variety of places – e.g. their computer, mobile device, catalog, or in a physical store – they should have a consistent experience with your brand across all channels. For example, be sure the look and feel of your website matches the look and feel of your catalog – and also extend this as much as possible to your mobile commerce site (although you obviously have less space to work with), your advertising, and your physical stores if you have any.

Additionally, your site search should take your catalog items into account, so that if someone types a product number from the catalog in the search box, they should then be taken straight to the product page. You should also include catalog page numbers on product pages and search results pages on your website, so people can refer back to the catalog if they wish. Also, as user ratings have become a popular feature on e-commerce sites, you can include the star ratings on product labels in the store and in your catalog, and you can take it a step further by including a call for people to look up the product on a kiosk or their mobile device to see the ratings and read reviews.

Provide flexibility and convenience online and offline

Many multi-channel retailers have a larger product inventory in their catalog (whether online or offline) than they do in their store, since an online store takes up virtual shelf space. While a physical store offers the convenience of being able to touch and see a product up close, many shoppers like to spend time thinking or comparison shopping before making a purchase. And if they do decide to purchase, they may prefer to buy online rather than return to the store, so make sure anything that can be bought in the store or catalog can be bought online. Additionally, when customers purchase online, give them the option to pick up the item in a store, as they may prefer not to pay shipping charges or they may not want to wait but rather pick-up the item right away at a local store.

Another convenience worth considering is offering free Wi-Fi to your store shoppers. A recent survey conducted by Wi-Fi software provide Devicescape shows that 80.5% of consumers prefer to shop at a retail store that offers Wi-Fi rather than one that doesn’t. Also, 65% said they’d use the free Wi-Fi to sign up for club cards, store memberships and coupons. Additionally, when you provide wireless connectivity in your store, you encourage people to use their mobile devices, where they might be compelled to talk about their purchase on social networks, post photos or find additional product information that can influence their decision to buy.

Keep search a focal point on web and mobile sites

Search remains a preferred way for visitors to browse a site – and also generates more conversions than standard navigation. To build your mobile presence, you need to understand that consumers “hunt” for products on mobile devices and browse for products on websites – in other words, on a mobile device they want to quickly find a specific product and information, whereas on the web they have more time and a better interface for digital window shopping. Either way, a good site search is critical – and particularly on mobile devices, search should be the focal point. It must deliver relevant information and it must be fast. You should also make it easy for customers to compare prices, read consumer reviews and order products they’ll pick up later in your store – all from their mobile devices.

These are just a few ideas to get you started, and there are many other ways you can get creative and come up with your own unique online/offline blend. Just be sure that whatever you do, you provide a consistent, convenient experience to your customers across all channels. Doing so will help you deliver a better brand experience to your customers, increasing your visibility and solidifying even greater customer loyalty.

Not long ago, you could implement key technology upgrades to your e-commerce site a few months in advance of the crucial holiday shopping season, all in one go – then leave your site alone until next year. However, the accelerated pace of retail technology innovation, along with higher expectations from users, means that you need to constantly stay abreast of new features and trends and understand how to incorporate them into your online business whenever possible.

Web search engines like Google and social networking services like Facebook are heavily influencing the changing expectations of online shoppers. For instance, site visitors expect to access product opinions and ratings from other shoppers, so they can make informed buying decisions. And they expect to see search results that can be broken down into useful categories, like product descriptions, social media content or videos.

So, even though we’ve just wrapped up last year’s holiday season, it’s not too early to consider how to make your site search even better for the holidays in 2011 – and indeed, for the next 12 months. Here’s what to consider adding to site search to meet the needs of your visitors.

Get social: add social media content to your site search. Since your shoppers are becoming avid consumers of social media content, it’s important to bring this material into site search results. Make blog posts, Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, and any other social media content available for users of site search so that site visitors can tap into the wealth of information within this content about your products and services.

Separate search results by type or category. Thanks to web search engines, site visitors are becoming used to results that are divided into helpful categories. For instance, if they search for a product, they may see results for online shops offering the product, videos about the product, and images. Offer your site visitors options to view their search results in similar ways.

Bring ratings and reviews into search results. We’ve talked about this before in the SLI newsletter and on our blog – and if you still haven’t added ratings and results into search, now’s the time to do it. Ideally you’ll allow site visitors to see reviews and ratings within results, and even refine results based on reviews (for instance, limiting results to products with a three-star or higher rating).

Adapt your site experience to mobile users. The mobile device market, which really took off last year, still has plenty of room for growth – and by this November, an even bigger percentage of your customers will be using these devices to search for holiday gifts. If you’ve already launched a mobile version of your website, monitor how your customers navigate the mobile site so you can quickly respond with improvements. (And if you haven’t yet launched a mobile site, here’s how to get started.)

Integrate the online and offline experience as much as possible. If you are a multi-channel retailer, visitors to your site may want to research products they plan to purchase in a physical store; and visitors to your store may also want access to information before they buy. Show “where to buy” options in search results so shoppers can find the nearest brick-and-mortar store, and include in-store kiosks where people can look up user reviews or conduct comparison shopping online before they make an in-store purchase. If you want some ideas on these topics, contact us – we’d be happy to help.

The companies that succeed in online commerce this year will be the ones that continually innovate, and find new ways to get the right offers in front of the right users at the right time. It’s a challenge that may require you to team up with specialists who can help you keep up with the pace of change. Contact SLI if you want to know how we can help you get your site into shape for 2011 and beyond.