Business
An Inside Look Into Camden’s Newest Startup: Penji
Published
7 years agoon
Within the developing City of Camden, there are gems popping up in their business district. We sat down with Penji’s co-founder, Johnathan Grzybowski. In this conversation, we learned about the problem with design and what Penji is doing to resolve it.
Penji is a dependable on-demand design service that helps marketing teams receive custom design at an affordable monthly cost.
How did you come up with the idea of Penji?
It’s the culmination of our journey as a design agency and our desire provide jobs for students in Camden. Penji is a product we built from the ground up to give our customers a better experience working with a designer, meanwhile we focus on training and hiring students in Camden.
We believe our platform can give customers high quality design at a set monthly cost while giving internships, jobs, and opportunities to students within our community.
What does Penji mean?
Let’s just say that there are a lot of hints out there in the digital universe and we will leave it up to you to decide what you think Penji means.
What is the problem with design today?
The main problem with design is the “pick two” stigma in business. Typically, clients want affordability, quality, and speed, but never have all three.
For example, if you’re a startup looking to expand your marketing strategies, you’re stuck scouring the internet to find a high quality and affordable designer. So then you hire that designer, but you get your affordable and quality design delivered…late. In this instance, the problem is speed.
If you’re an established company, you’ll likely hire an expensive agency to deliver high quality design on time, however you’ll be paying an arm and a leg for it. The problem here is cost.
We believe that we are in an age where we can build just about anything we put our minds to, but the greatest differentiator we have in business is design. We shatter the pick two stigma by helping marketing teams to obtain cost-effective, quality design, on time – every time.
What is your mission?
We strive to be a community-conscious design platform that delivers an exceptional service while providing learning and job opportunities for students in underprivileged communities.
We’ve been in Camden for almost three years and have seen a complete transformation throughout the city. New businesses are coming into the city and are now opening their headquarters here in Camden. We want to set the precedent as one of the first community-conscious tech startups to relocate to the city and pave the way for others to follow.
We also believe greatly in the entrepreneurship and business community as a whole. We set out to develop a product that entrepreneurs, business professionals, and marketing teams want to use.
Finding a quality designer is hard, but at Penji, we believe there are great designers hidden within our community. That’s why we provide design internships, workshops, and learning opportunities to help students learn about design and further hone their design skills.
We are allocating our resources by focusing on the future of design and it begins here in Camden. By giving resources to educate students and professionals about design, it will allow for a smarter workforce, paid internship opportunities, and help grow the local economy.
Can you describe your team?
One of the hardest things to do in a business is to find a reliable team that sees our vision and believes in our mission.
It starts with our core team:
Jie is the glue that brings everyone together. She’s that fiery outgoing personality that is an absolute joy to be around. She’s the person you first want to meet at a networking event, because she will set the tone of incredible people you’ll meet during the rest of your event.
Then there’s Liam, we call him our “Damn Good Designer.” Well, actually, he calls himself that, but that’s a different story. Liam first started as a young and talented designer, now he’s head of design, and sets the tone for everything that’s delivered to our clients. Liam has thorough process and focus on our quality control to make sure that when we design an item for a client, it’s met with the highest quality.
Our dark horse is Steven. The quietest person in the room and the individual with the biggest brain. He’s our problem solver and is dedicated to providing a memorable experience to our customers. What makes Steven so amazing is his ability to do all of his tasks, with little involvement from the founders.
One of the hardest workers on our team is our sales manager, Andria. If you’ve received a phone call, a cold email, or an ask for a guest post or podcast interview, it more than likely came from the focused mind of Andria. With her efforts, we’ve had the opportunity to grow as quickly as we have.
I would be remissed if I didn’t mention the efforts of our outreach specialists, Thomas. He’s the slider of all sliders of DM’s. He’s handling an exceptional campaign for cold outreach and has the ability to execute the most difficulty of tasks. Our interns are also a major asset to our success. The willingness of our team to take these individuals in as our own, and have the ability to constantly teach, is the foundation to who we are today, and the community conscious platform Penji is.
Lastly, my cofounder is the ying to my yang. We are the perfect balance and level each other out. During the entire process of creating Penji, we stuck to each other’s strengths and maintained focus. I couldn’t have done it without him.
I am grateful and honored to have such an inspiring team.
Who is your ideal customer?
Our ideal customers are marketing teams seeking to improve the overall quality of their marketing materials, having designs done on time – every time, and to lower their overhead.
Our clients consist of Rutgers University here in Camden, Camden County College, Cooper’s Ferry, Hardenbergh Insurance Group, Boomerang Office Furniture, just to name a few. These are organizations with large marketing/sales teams that have integrated Penji into their business with ease to better their digital products.
Then you have startups and other small businesses like Only Good Things that just started their business and need help to brand their digital imprint. Level5Wealth that has been in business for years. They are absolutely killing it, but their previous designer left a lot to be desired. Waterfront Lab that’s doing incredibly awesome things for the city of Camden. They have an event every week that needs a graphic for promotion on their social and email channels. These organizations are using Penji to help get their time back, so they can spend more time on their business.
Finally you have non-profits and other economic development organizations like Cathedral Kitchen, Kingsway Learning Center, and Waterfront Ventures. We are so proud to have these organizations as clients because we are artistically telling their story through our digital design efforts.
What differentiates Penji from your competitors?
We’re a monthly subscription service that starts at $349/m for 15 hours of design. Penji is a project management service that allows you and your entire marketing team to work seamlessly and efficiently with our designers and project managers. Gone are the days of going back and forth with emails and poorly marked revisions.
We wanted to make a product that is so simple and easy for our customers to use. Every piece to our backend was done with purpose. Khai, our internal design team, and our development team did a brilliant job.
As soon as you sign up you are met with a screen that allows us to understand your brand. It takes less than five minutes to complete. As soon as you’re complete with that task, you’re set to begin submitting your projects.
Once projects are submitted, your project manager and design team begins working. In under 24-48 hours you will receive the first draft of your design. If a revision is needed, Penji’s project management service is intuitive enough for you to easily communicate your changes. A simple click of the mouse will unlock an edit section on that design for you to submit your request.
We also transparent to our clients. We bill on recurring monthly basis, which makes using Penji predictable. You’ll never have to wonder if a design is going to go over your budget. Our clients will always know the status of their project, which team member approved what, or who on their team submitted which revisions. Penji provides both transparency and control for marketing teams of all sizes.
What are some challenges that you faced with Penji?
Well, our first challenge was to prove that we have a viable product with a good product/market fit. We introduced the idea to our closest friends, networking groups, and cold called close to 400 local businesses to see if what we were building is a product that marketing teams want. We received a ton of feedback making it difficult at first to understand what each person wanted from the product. We continued this process for about three to four months before designing a single aspect of Penji.
Although this challenge was rather tedious, it did two things for our business:
- It allowed us to get feedback to create a better product.
- It allowed us the opportunity to get initial interest and beta users before the product launched.
Having general interests in our product was a huge lifesaver because we didn’t have to go far to get our first initial customers. We brought our contacts into our sales process. We told them what we were doing, how we were doing it, and what they needed to know about the product itself. We used things like email newsletter, blogging techniques, and even vlogging to document our process and the production of what Penji is today.
How do you plan on scaling?
In the beginning we needed to solve two huge issues within our business; sales and delivering design in a cost efficient and timely manner. To scale design, i’ll leave that up to my cofounder to discuss in more detail. What has made us so successful is sticking to our roles and not straying away or butting into one another’s process.
So then, how were you able to scale sales and get your first 100 customers?
We’re not at 100 yet, but we’re getting there! It started with documenting every single process, number, and interaction that we had with a prospect (Cold lead). We became a numbers and analytics company. Salesforce and other CRM were not cutting it for us, so we developed an internal CRM that allowed our sales team to be more efficient while allowing us to see the data in real time.
Our cold call and cold email strategies are not revolutionary by any means. We did the work that others didn’t want to do and continued to refine the process over time. If you’re curious how we are doing it, we’ve documented every single strategy and step on my personal vlog/blog. All of our scripts, templates, and internal processes are all there for the taking.
Once we had our process down, we then created a workflow and then hired accordingly. We knew who to hire and how to hire based off of our numbers. We knew that if we wanted to grow by 25% we needed to increase our efforts by hiring two additional people doing x. Because of the numbers we knew what they needed to do, how they needed to do it, and were plugged into the process.
Along the same lines of documenting, we also put an emphasis on content marketing. The vlog did an incredible job bringing more people together. It’s funny, sometimes you may not get the comments or the “likes” directly within a social media post, but people are always watching. Get your information and message out to your audience, whatever way that works best for you. Stop thinking, stop waiting, stop believing that you need this huge and expensive set up, because you don’t. I recorded every vlog on my iPhone 7 Plus. I edited on my Macbook Pro using Final Cut and occasionally used my DJI Mavic Pro for b-roll. Other than that, that’s about it. I focused all of my energy on the story.
Where do you see Penji five 5 years from now?
I’ll revert back to our mission, we strive to be a community conscious design platform that delivers while providing learning and job opportunities for students in underprivileged communities.
It starts right here in Camden. In five years, as our organization grows, we will expand our efforts to other cities. For us, success means that we are able to give back to our community, provide learning opportunities for others to succeed, and allow businesses to differentiate themselves through quality design from Penji.
You may like
Business
Omnichannel Marketing Platforms: Definition, Examples & Tools
Published
3 months agoon
August 22, 2024By
Kai KelisOmnichannel has become a recent buzzword online. That’s because the business landscape has shifted most of their marketing efforts into virtual communication. Advertisers are always looking for new ways to boost online connections with audiences while increasing sales. This is how “omnichannel” sprouted quickly and into every marketer’s arsenal. But what is omnichannel, and what are some omnichannel marketing platforms that do the job? Read on to find out.
What is Omnichannel Marketing?
The concept of omnichannel is simple. It aims to provide marketers a quick way to communicate with their customers and get as much engagement and conversion as possible from one go. Their objective is for customers to enjoy a seamless shopping experience on multiple brand channels, including online, mobile, or in-store. This means, marketers would have to show customers the same pricing and promotions across all brand channels.
However, it also goes beyond that. You have to ensure that customers can navigate through different channels with ease. This means customers can switch between your brand channels without any roadblocks. For instance, a customer can order from your online store and have the option to pick it up from your physical location. One way to increase sales is by offering customers additional items to boost order value.
Why is Omnichannel Marketing Important?
Omnichannel marketing is crucial these days since most people have shifted to online browsing and shopping. Moreover, if advertisers market on three or more channels, this could result in a 90 percent higher retention rate compared to using a single-channel campaign.
Additionally, omnichannel marketing also strengthens your brand messaging since campaigns are consistent across all platforms. But what are the primary reasons why advertisers focus on omnichannel marketing?
- Brands will get high customer retention
- Gains customer loyalty
- More personalization in the customer’s journey
- More integrated business
- Better customer insight
- Smooth and enjoyable customer experience
How Does Omnichannel Advertising Work?
An example of omnichannel marketing is when a sports retail store sends its prospects an email containing a recent promotion on its newly launched running shoes. The email content shows the link to the promotion. Once customers click this link, they are taken to the brand’s eCommerce website. Instructions also let them know they can get it from the brick-and-mortar store.
Another example is when a furniture store shows a behind-the-scenes video on YouTube about how its experts craft their pieces. Once viewers watch the video, they are welcomed with a link inviting them to join the brand’s email newsletter.
10 Omnichannel Marketing Platforms
Here are 10 best omnichannel marketing tools.
1. BigCommerce
This online and offline sales tool is for large-scale businesses looking to streamline their advertising strategies. BigCommerce unifies all marketing campaigns in an easy and convenient platform, including in-store, online, social media, and marketplaces. It can also handle large volumes of sales, traffic, and transactions, providing customers with a smooth experience.
2. NewStore
NewStore is the tool for all your POS and inventory management systems. It can manage orders, inventory, and customer data across the brand’s channels. It also comes with robust marketing tools that offer personalized engagement, such as push notifications, mobile apps, and location-based marketing.
3. Glassix
If you’re looking for the best omnichannel marketing platforms for communication, Glassix sits at the top of the list. It’s an AI-powered advertising tool that helps with email, SMS, live chat, messaging apps, and social media. Using Glassix means tracking all customer interactions and messages in one user-friendly interface is easy. It also lets you send targeted messages to your audiences based on their preferences and behaviors.
4. Desku
In addition to integrating all customer communications in one interface, Desku also helps with automation functions, such as chatbots, canned responses, ticketing systems, and more. Plus, it offers reporting tools and analytics to monitor progress.
5. Omnisend
Omnisend is the platform for all your SMS and email marketing campaigns. It’s best suited for eCommerce businesses and allows advertisers to create, monitor, and automate campaigns across all channels. It offers drag-and-drop features and is extremely easy to use.
6. Tidio
When searching for the best omnichannel communication platform, Tidio ranks high. It’s designed to facilitate customer interactions, manage inquiries, and offer real-time support.
7. Adobe Experience Cloud
You can’t succeed in omnichannel marketing without using a cloud-based service. And Adobe Experience Cloud ensures you get the right cloud-based solution for optimizing customer experiences. You can use this tool to build and manage customer journeys through AI-powered insights. You can also integrate this platform with other Adobe tools like Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Target, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Analytics, and more.
8. Revealbot
If you’re spending time on paid ads, Revealbot will help you manage them in one user-friendly interface. It’s a marketing tool that helps optimize digital advertising campaigns on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Google Ads. You can use this tool to set automation features, campaign budgets, and custom ad rules.
9. Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus if one of the best omnichannel marketing platforms for eCommerce businesses. It helps create a streamlined customer shopping experience. From workflows and checkouts to customer segmentation and targeted marketing campaigns, this is a reliable tool to use.
10. Oracle CX Commerce
Oracle CX Commerce is the best solution for B2B and B2C businesses. It’s a cloud-based eCommerce platform that helps provide personalized experiences. It also offers advanced features that simplify segmentation, customized content, targeted promotions, and customer engagement.
If you frequent the outdoors, you know how important protecting your playground is. When you’re close to nature, you must always prioritize eco-consciousness. While you practice sustainable habits, supporting brands prioritizing sustainability becomes a top priority. If you’re always planning an outdoor adventure and need the gear, here are the top 10 sustainable outdoor gear brands you must check out.
1. Patagonia
Over the years, Patagonia has lined up its corporate social responsibilities, mainly focusing on labor and the environment. They have robust social responsibility programs that ensure workers and communities are cared for. Patagonia claims that 85 percent of its products are made in factories with Fair Trade Certified certifications. The brand also helped over 85,000 workers by participating in Fair Trade programs. The brand also helped more than 2,000 farmers from its Regenerative Organic Certified cotton program.
2. Osprey
Osprey, a brand that creates robust backpacks for travel and outdoors, is also committed to sustainability. The company is a trusted bluesign SYSTEM partner, which helps eliminate PFAS-based DWR in 100 percent of its textile products. On top of its promise of eco-friendly materials, the standard for its backpacks is unparalleled, offering durability, functionality, and repairability. These products undergo field testing and athlete evaluations to ensure it’s a pack that runs a lifetime.
3. Hydro Flask
Plastic bottles comprise one of the highest numbers of ocean pollutants. Hydro Flask is committed to minimizing this by introducing excellent insulated water bottles that last a lifetime! I bought one five years ago, and the insulation functionality still works like the very first day I got it. The brand boasts its recycled-content bottle, the Slingback Bottle Pack, with a 100 percent recycled polyester body. It also eliminated single-use plastic for its packaging, specifically for 90 percent of its products. Hydro Flask uses soy-based inks and no foils and varnishes for their products too!
4. Black Diamond
Black Diamond is among the top brands for the best outdoor gear, specifically reliable and durable helmets. The company’s ethos is based on the team’s outdoor pursuits. First, the company’s 12,000-square-foot headquarters is energy-efficient, with a 2,200-watt solar photovoltaic system that generates about 3,000 kWh of electricity per year. Black Diamond also advocates for sustainable outdoor and recreation practices and is a founding member of the Outdoor Industry Association’s Climate Action Corps.
5. Sierra Designs
Sierra Designs is also one of the best sustainable outdoor gear brands you can rely on. They aim to create products that have as minimal impact as possible on Mother Nature. The brand boasts the DriDown product, which ensures that feathers come from animals that weren’t subjected to any harm. The brand also uses neglected recycled materials for its fabric’s exteriors and insulation for apparel and sleeping bags. A lifetime warranty also backs all Sierra Designs products.
6. Hyperlite
Hyperlite is your go-to outdoor gear brand if you’re into climbing, hiking, or rock climbing. The company is committed to sustainability for as long as the brand is still in operation. They created the Hyperlite Mountain Gear ethos, essentialism, which differs from minimalism. The brand believes that an intentional and thoughtful approach to assembling its backpacks ensures its products are safe, comfortable, warm, and efficient. Hyperlite is a proud partner of Dyneema, a bio-based fiber company, and promises to use this fiber in all its outdoor gear products.
7. MSR
For all your climbing equipment, don’t miss out on MSR products. The founder, a lifelong mountaineer, believed that a safe and reliable equipment is key to greater adventures. Today, the brand is proud to hand-build many MSR products. The brand is also another founding members of the Outdoor Industry Association Sustainability Working Group. It’s a collaboration of over 300 outdoor brands, manufacturers, and suppliers that focus on sustainability challenges and solutions.
8. Sunski
When you’re enjoying outdoor adventures, make sure you enjoy it in style with Sunski sustainable glasses. Sunski is a fantastic eyewear manufacturer in America that uses plastic scraps to turn into frames! A unique sunglass niche in the industry. The sunglasses are flexible, lightweight, and extremely durable. All Sunski customers will also get a lifetime warranty for their glasses. And if they break? Repair or replacement is free!
9. Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi backpacks, travel packs, hip packs, and duffels are colorful and vibrant and made with eco-friendly materials. They embarked on the The (Re)Purpose™ Collection program, which uses recycled deadstock or leftover fabric from other fashion brands. They also offer a lifetime guarantee on repairs or replacements. As members of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, they support Amazon’s reforestation. Cotopaxi believes that doing good will create a ripple effect, so they reward customers who #DoGood!
10. Goal Zero
Here’s another eco-friendly outdoor gear brand for all your needs and more. To offer you the best outdoor camping experience, Goal Zero even sells power essentials, such as inverter generators, handheld portable power devices, solar panels, and battery banks. The company also aims to practice eco-conscious manufacturing methods by ensuring all 10+ factories in nine countries adhere to environmental and human rights standards. Its top sustainable camping gear is the Yeti Portable Power Station, with a four over five rating!
Eco-consciousness and health and fitness must be the perfect tandem. If you prioritize your health and fitness, the same care should also concentrate on sustainability. While you’re focused on your fitness goals, the process shouldn’t be as destructive to the environment. Just like you want to nourish your body with the good stuff, you also want to protect Mother Nature like it’s your own body. After all, the outdoors offers so much to benefit your health in the long run. Hiking, camping, rock climbing, surfing, swimming, to name a few. That said, protecting your playground as much as possible is only fitting. And that starts with choosing the most sustainable activewear brands. Here are the top 10 sustainable brands for fun and play.
1. Iron Roots
While some activewear brands claim 80 percent sustainability, Iron Roots embarks on 100 percent sustainable products and processes. It’s plastic-free all-organic athletic apparel that will not only make you feel good but also make you feel better about wearing Mother Nature-friendly apparel. Founded in 2018 by Dutch friends, the founders combined functionality, design, and sustainability in beautiful sportswear. They were both fed up with how the market manufactures most apparel from unsustainable materials. The brand uses non-plastic materials and unique plastic-based apparel like polyester. It’s a breathable and comfortable activewear that will help you achieve your fitness goals!
2. Girlfriend Collective
Girlfriend Collective is a Seattle-based brand making waves in the sustainable activewear niche in 2024. They are famous for their sports bras, trendy gym tops, leggings, and more! But the best part is the teams behind this brand are tree huggers, prioritizing recycled materials for their apparel. From fabric scraps to water bottles and fishing nets, you know you’re working out and helping the brand’s mission. The brand also uses eco-friendly dyes to color its clothes while managing wastewater responsibly. They created the ReGirlfriend program to prevent textiles from being in landfills!
3. Patagonia
Every outdoorsperson has heard of the famous brand Patagonia. The company has set a gold standard for sustainable apparel and manufacturing. Recently, the popular activewear brand has revamped its ownership structure to ensure it allocates a budget for environmental initiatives. The brand not only outsources sustainable materials and works with eco-conscious factories, but it is also transparent about it.
4. Groceries Apparel
Groceries Apparel is another sustainable activewear brand that focuses on upcycled food waste without needing third-party people or factories. They manufacture their activewear themselves through non-toxic and locally sourced materials. Who would’ve thought another person’s food waste could be a gym rat’s workout clothes? They manufacture all their products in their Los Angeles factory, making them a 100 percent self-sufficient brand!
5. Move by Mate
Move by Mate knows that conventional cotton, a material used by most apparel brands, is detrimental to the environment due to its pesticide use, heavy farming, and excessive water consumption. Move by Mate is also one of the sustainable activewear brands that uses organic cotton instead of traditional cotton, keeping the soil healthy. They claim that organic soil is also more breathable.
6. Wolven
If leggings are your workout go-to, then you must check out Wolven. It’s a brand that produces recycled sexy leggings for your exercise routines. Wolven is also deemed Lululemon’s competitor due to its elegant designs in multiple muted colors. Wolven leggings are made of 84 percent recycled PET or plastic bottles. The brand’s recycled materials are also Global Recycled Standard-certified. When you buy Wolven leggings, you’re guaranteed they are free of uncomfortable, harmful chemicals.
7. Reformation
You can be sure this brand is one of the most mainstream activewear brands that doesn’t take eco-consciousness lightly. Reformation boasts multiple eco-friendly initiatives, and they will not stop anytime soon. For one, they have a RefRecycling program, encouraging customers to drop off their used Reformation products in exchange for store credits. Moreover, Reformation also partners with many eco-conscious organizations like Bluesign. They also have a FactoryForward to ensure their suppliers become the best at what they do.
8. Gngr Bees
Founded in 2019, the owner, Natalia Grisard, was inspired to create Gngr Bees by her love for wildlife. She claims this brand is “driven by purpose and not by profit.” The brand’s apparel is made from discarded products. The company has reclaimed over 45,000 plastic bottles and over 4,000 kilograms of fishing nets. Gngr Bees also partners with Azizi Life and Beach Collective to plant mangroves and recycle ocean-bound plastic.
9. The North Face
The North Face has a long history of embracing eco-friendly products, initiatives, and commitments ever since. They are committed to prioritizing nature through science-based and actionable goal-setting. The North Face ensures all their materials are 100 percent recyclable and responsibly sourced. They created the North Face Renewed program that focuses on circularity by giving used gear a second life. This way, they are given a chance before users toss them into a landfill.
10. Tentree
Tentree is a Vancouver-based brand that believes in the power of tree planting. Its name is embedded in its company vision to plant ten trees in exchange for every item purchased. The company centers its practices on environmentally friendly ways, which they call the “earth-first approach.” This focuses on safe and fair working conditions for all employees and prioritizes sustainable and recycled materials for their products. Some of these materials are Tencel lyocell, Repreve polyester, and more. They created the Climate+ Initiative, which lets customers prevent carbon emissions by buying a pack of trees.