The Founders Of Sunwink On How To Stand Out In A Crowded Space
Our guests today are Jordan Schenck and Eliza Ganesh, the co-founders of Sunwink, a company that makes plant powdered sparkling tonics and superfood powders for everyday wellness.
Eliza actually came up with the idea for the company after she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. She used a lot of herbs to help with things like stress and she found power in how they made her feel. Her hope with Sunwink was that it would be an easy, fun, enjoyable way for people to start incorporating plants into their own lives.
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How to stand out in a crowded space
The health and wellness space was estimated at over $4.4 trillion in 2019, it is a huge space that is crowded with products. So what did Jordan and Eliza do to make sure they stood out in such a packed market?
First of all, the packaging and the look and feel of the brand has to be out of this world. They made sure that their product would stand out on a shelf and look different than anything else around it. They also knew that although the main purpose of their product was to introduce people to plants and to add healthy herbs into people’s lives — it had to taste good. You can get anyone to buy something once, but unless it tastes good they won’t buy it again.
They also understood that their brand has to stand for something, it has to have a point of view that seeps into every aspect of the business. It can’t just be a wonderful mission statement on their about page, it has to be something that reflects back to the internal company culture. It has to be something that people inside the company live and breathe daily.
Very early on they also invested a lot of time and money into doing surveys and polls to get a better idea of what people were looking for and what wellness looks like to consumers.
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Getting Sunwink on shelves and in the hands of customers
Once they knew how they were going to stand out in the crowded health and wellness and food and beverage spaces, it was time to find customers. One thing that they did early on was to attend Expo West, a huge natural product convention where big brands and everyday people can try different products on the market. This really helped Jordan and Eliza make connections and build relationships with key people.
Another area that they focused on was selling their product online, through sites like Amazon. They did digital advertising and experimented with reaching different types of consumers to see what areas would work best. They also reach out to their customer base frequently to get a feel for what they can do better.
They also aren’t afraid to change things that aren’t working. If a product or a label or a way of selling isn’t working they aren’t afraid to let it go and try something else. It can be painful at times to let go of things, but they realize it’s for the best.
Their experience as female entrepreneurs
In the industry that Jordan and Eliza are in they work a lot with co packers and distributors, which commonly are male dominated areas. Overall they have had a good experience as female entrepreneurs, but something that Eliza mentions struggling with was actually her own personal thoughts and beliefs.
She shares that she had to overcome the belief that she had to constantly prove her worth. Going into meetings with people she felt that she had to do her homework, know every correct answer to every question, and spill every detail of the business in order to be taken seriously.
But what she realized is that it is important not to just answer questions, but to ask questions as well. And that she didn’t need to overshare about the business too early on in meetings. Looking back she knows now she needed to value herself and come into her own power.
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