Marketing veteran Jun Tan on the importance of staying true to your brand

Jun Tan may be a marketing pro, having worked for companies like Bose, Brother and Sony; but being an entrepreneur requires a full mindset pivot.

The Master of Science in Innovation (MI) grad was inspired to formulate and produce her own natural deodorant after learning about the long-term harmful effects of chemical ingredients in conventional deodorants. She also realised that levelling up from hobbyist to being the girl boss behind her own Jomingo brand of natural deodorants takes a whole new suite of competencies.

“Sales was growing very well before the pandemic happened and when it struck, I had to think of a way to sustain my business,” she says.

“There were some recommendations that I should switch to selling hand sanitisers and masks under the Jomingo brand, but these products do not stand for the brand.

One thing I learnt in the MI programme is to stay true to what my brand stands for, else the customers might be confused, and the brand values diluted. Therefore, I chose to launch a new product line — hand balms which are natural and vegan to keep hands moisturised due to frequent washing and the use of hand sanitisers during this pandemic.”

Having worked in marketing in the Asia Pacific region, Jun is leveraging her knowledge of the different marketing landscapes in regional countries and her experience of working with people from diverse cultures as she builds her business. She also enrolled in the MI programme to learn more about entrepreneurship, and the experience has proved fruitful so far.

Being a part of the MI capstone project, where students hone their innovation skills and contribute to new value creation gave her the opportunity to research on and discover the market sentiments for Jomingo. She was also able to tap on the network she built in her MI classes to find a designer to develop Jomingo’s visual identity. That, and communicating the values of Jomingo’s environmentally friendly products and packaging, are important steps in building up this new brand.

The brand’s products are made with natural ingredients that are ethically sourced from the region to minimise carbon footprint, and even the packaging materials are compostable.

“As someone who cares very much for the environment, it is important to me to not add to the growing plastic waste epidemic that the world is currently facing,” says Jun. “So recycling is not required for our packaging. It is unfortunate that the recycling rate is very low in Asia and I hope to give consumers the option of making a purchase that will enable them to live healthier without compromising the environment.”

In SMU, classes that touched on concepts such as design thinking have also helped her to think out of the box as she comes across unexpected opportunities. Contrary to its name, the design thinking methodology is not just relevant to designers, but a strategy that helps entrepreneurs and business leaders better empathise with their audiences and meet consumers’ needs.

“I learnt that parents are looking out for natural deodorants for their kids who are as young as nine years old,” she cites as one example. “This was a new target audience which I was not expecting to reach out to.”

Jun has also taken to heart the lessons learned in the course Managing Service Innovation. “Being close to my customers, and understanding their values and expectations, is crucial if I want to keep them coming back to me.” Since over 90 per cent of Jomingo’s sales happen online, she is keeping a close eye on the brand’s digital presence, especially on social media. In this, she has the help of a team member working on marketing.

Other than that, Jomingo is still largely a one-woman show. Besides running operations, Jun also bootstrapped the business herself, and found the MI programme’s grounding on the financial nitty-gritty of running a business very useful.

“I believe that a business should grow by itself to prove that it works before I go looking for funding, which is why Jomingo is self-funded. Once the business presents itself as viable, I will know I have built a stable and growing brand,” she says. Soon, she plans to create a company culture that can help her attract talent to her team, and to expand beyond Singapore. “After establishing my base and building up my customers here, I want to learn from my past experiences and have the confidence to grow my brand by selling my products in other countries.”

You can find out more about Jomingo on their website, Facebook and Instagram.