• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, January 19, 2017

Largely driven by their interest in mobile, 70% of small- and medium-sized businesses plan to up their digital marketing investments this year.

That’s according a new survey of some 200 domestic SMBs, which was commissioned by email marketing platform GetResponse.

Among that 70% share, half cited mobile as the main reason for their budget increases. 

“Mobile marketing is increasingly important given the surging content consumption numbers across smartphones and tablets,” Simon Grabowski, founder and CEO of GetResponse, notes in the new report.

“Social media usage has only grown in tandem with mobile consumption, as the most popular platforms are mobile-first,” Grabowski said. “Email, too, has become a mobile-driven activity.”

“Ultimately, mobile is the reason why these areas will drive spend in the New Year,” Grabowski added.

When asked if their digital marketing budgets in the New Year would “increase,” “decrease,” or “stay the same,” 70% said they would “increase.”

Making up that 70% share, 30% said they expect their digital budgets to “increase considerably,” while 40% said it will “increase somewhat.”

Of the remaining 30% polled, 28% said that their budget would remain unchanged, while just 2% said their digital marketing budgets would “decrease” this year.