Knowing who to target through offline direct marketing has 'tremendous benefits all round', one industry expert claims.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) states that there is a still a place for direct marketing when contacting those whose lifestyles do not revolve around the internet.

Ray Jones, of the CIM, states: 'The more senior people may not be online too much. So, for instance, if you're doing [marketing for] cruises or something like that, you might find that that works better with hard copy mailing.'

He adds that professional marketing is about knowing your audience and because of this, the CIM are 'very detailed in how we deliniate our market segmentations, by what people do and how they like to be contacted'.

According to the Direct Mail Information Service (DMIS), the average British household receives 13.2 items of Direct Mail every four weeks.

Up to 32 per cent of consumers had responded to Direct Mail at least once in the past 12 months, with 42 per cent saying they could remember making at least one purchase.