• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 27, 2012

When asked which types of online advetising  people expect to spend this year, only 5% of small businesses told Borrell they plan to buy mobile. That compares to 13.7% for social media and 17.4% for email marketing. But Borrell says that figure belies the interest bubbling up in mobile marketing among local businesses and the gradual shift in ad dollars from the PC to mobile. More than half (52%) expect to use mobile marketing in some way, but only 35.7% say they plan to spend money in doing so.

When it comes to mobile ad budgets, the largest proportion of local businesses expect to devote 10% to 24% of ad budget on mobile. Borrell reflects that mobile right now feels a lot like the Internet in the late 90s, when local merchants were just starting to hear anecdotal stories about how the Web could boost their businesses. “This is happening with great intensity right now in retail trade publications” in relation to mobile,” he said.