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Marketing expert Michael Ellwanger has steadily grown his industry client base since starting EFX Marketing in 2009.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Marketer Michael Ellwanger found two big incentives to move his EFX Marketing company south to a warmer climate: Two bad blizzards this year and a love of deep-sea fishing.

Making a big move
“We moved here because of the lifestyle,” says Ellwanger, who relocated with his wife and four young sons from Hammonton, N.J. in June. “When we’re not working, we’re hardcore fishermen and offshore anglers. I also wanted more time with my four boys all under the age of 10.”

With a home and office in Palm Beach Gardens, and an office in Hammonton, Ellwanger is able to see marketing clients face-to-face in two areas with strong chauffeured transportation industries: New Jersey/New York and South Florida.

Marketing services
EFX Marketing, founded in 2009, has grown to include hundreds of clients worldwide, with most in the chauffeured and ground transportation industries. EFX clients have fleet sizes ranging from four to 200 vehicles. They are spread throughout the Northeast, across to the West Coast, and even to Australia. “We spend a lot of time working on weekends and odd hours at night so we have great communication with clients,” Ellwanger says. “We do whatever we can to accommodate companies wherever they might be.”

The four-member firm supplies a wide array of basic and advanced in-house custom marketing and digital information services. Those range from the basic business cards and brochures to the sophisticated realm of digital and social marketing, including website design, e-marketing, blogs and SEO strategy. EFX also handles trade show marketing and media, digital presentations, and full-color printing.

“We sit down and take the time to educate [clients] on what’s working and track everything for them,” Ellwanger says. “We really focus on putting a marketing plan in place and follow it through for them.”

Marketing trends
Drawing upon 13 years of experience as a graphic designer, web programmer and business developer, Ellwanger has seen some distinct marketing patterns emerge as a result of the ascendance of digital media and the need for businesses to pursue cost-effective marketing amid a slow economy:

A proven success for many companies is to have a strong website with an SEO plan in place that grows monthly and generates organic and paid searches. “The key is to get new people to locate you on the web and get traffic.”

E-mail marketing has overtaken print since it is cheaper and companies cut back on print. Email marketing campaigns are cost effective, enabling clients to track all responses and feedback, target specific industries, conduct digital campaigns, and follow up with e-blasts. “E-mail marketing is affordable. It’s the number two thing we recommend.”
Corporate clients doing presentations still use brochures, media packets, and marketing kits, along with digital presentations. That’s what prospective customers still want to see.

Clients pursuing prom and wedding customers are using more PDF files of brochures and digital ads that can be e-mailed to clients instead of costlier printed versions that have to be mailed and/or displayed.