Consumers respond positively to advertising on mobile phones and the internet but traditional promotion is still the best way of attracting consumers to a website, according to research.

More than six out of 10 consumers have responded to new media advertising at least once in the last six months.

When the researchers looked only at consumers who had previously bought online or had used the internet to find information the figure rose to 79%, according to a survey commissioned by the market research company, Datamonitor.

But advertising online is not the best way to attract consumers to a website. Word of mouth, TV ads, newspapers and magazines were much more likely to have persuaded consumers to visit a specific site.

Radio advertising, direct mail and posters were less likely to have an influence, the survey found.

Nevertheless, just over 70% of those surveyed were able to remember seeing a new media ad, such as an email message or banner ad, in the last six months.

"New media offers the chance to make advertising messages more focused and effective and reduce wastage, where adverts are simply shown to the wrong person," the report said.

"New media marketing allows targeting to move beyond the basics of demographics to identifying values and lifestyles as it facilitates collecting this information about consumers."