The Digital Strategies of 3 Fast-Growing NYC Startups

What makes a startup successful? It’s not easy to build a business from the ground up. During the early stages of your company, there are many decisions that can make or break your success.  

To get a better idea of what a successful startup looks like, let’s turn to New York City. As the most populous city in the U.S., NYC has naturally become a hub for entrepreneurs. There’s a huge pool of professional talent in the area and no shortage of networking opportunities.  

In this article, we’ll take a look at three companies that got their start in NYC and have since become massive gamechangers in their respective industries. For each company, we’ll highlight a few examples of how their digital strategy helped them achieve success.  

Ramp 

Making its debut in 2019, Ramp has quickly become one of the fastest-growing financial software companies in the U.S. The company specializes in corporate cards and expense management software. Recently, they were named Fast Company’s most innovative finance company of 2022. Some of their clients include 818 Tequila, Morning Brew, and Marqeta.  

The company is valued at $8.1 billion and saw a revenue increase of nearly 10x year over year. What did they do in just three short years to get here? Let's take a closer look at Ramp’s target audience, content creation, keywords and website design.  

Target audience 

Ramp is the perfect example of a brand that knows its audience. Their robust resources and bold value statements—most of which are geared toward small businesses—help them take on well-established credit card companies such as Chase. 

If you head to Ramp's website and click around for a minute or two, you’ll see that the target audience is clear. The company’s products and services are intended for business owners and finance professionals who want to streamline their expense processing. 

Defining your audience allows your business to focus its efforts on groups that are most likely to engage and convert. 

Content and keywords 

Once you have a clear understanding of your audience, you can create high-quality content that answers the questions your audience is searching for. Content creation is crucial for reaching new customers and fostering a positive perception of your company.  

Ramp offers many resources related to finance and business, including articles, case studies, webinars, and podcasts. The variety of formats and frequent publishing schedule help attract users to the site, while strong calls to action encourage users to take the next step. 

Content creation and keyword research go hand in hand. For example, one of Ramp’s top-performing articles is a step-by-step guide to creating a balance sheet. “How to make a balance sheet” is a term that gets over 1,000 searches per month, and there are countless variations of this phrase that are also being searched frequently. 

Ramp’s balance sheet guide is driving almost 4,000 monthly organic visitors to their website. It is a thorough, in-depth piece of content that resonates with anyone who manages company finances.  

Creating content around top industry keywords has certainly paid off for Ramp. During our research, we noticed that Ramp’s organic keywords have increased month over month. Their organic website traffic has also seen a steady rise over the last year.  

Design and user experience  

Web design impacts how your audience perceives your brand. A design that is appealing and easy to navigate can help nurture your leads and increase conversions.  

Ramp’s website design and functionality is even stronger proof that they are putting their audience first. For example, there is a chat bot feature on the site that provides users with an easy way to connect with Ramp. According to Gartner, 43% of B2B customers prefer a rep-free buying experience. By including a chat feature on the site, Ramp gives users the option to learn more about the company’s offerings in a pressure-free way. 

Another interesting feature that sets Ramp apart is that a lot of their written content is accompanied by an audio version. This makes their content more accessible to those who are visually impaired. It's also a great option to have for anyone who wants to listen to Ramp’s insights while multitasking. By adding features that are inclusive and user friendly, Ramp shows their dedication to their audience. 

Ramp’s clear and focused strategy has given them a leg to stand on when competing with top financial companies. Their audience-first approach to web design and content creation has allowed them to grow their platform and become a standout in their industry. 

Glossier 

Glossier has been making a name for themselves in the cosmetics industry since 2014. In 2015, just a year after their launch, they were named WWD Beauty Inc’s 2015 Digital Innovator of the Year. Over the years, they’ve been recognized as a top beauty brand by big names such as Allure, Nylon, and Cosmopolitan. 

Glossier stepped into a highly competitive industry with an approach built on establishing personal, authentic connections with customers. Find out how Glossier used unique creatives to drive demand for their products.  

Demand generation 

Glossier may be able to contribute some of their e-commerce success to their strong understanding of demand generation—the process of generating awareness for products or services. Glossier’s choice to use original and memorable terminology for many of their products helps the brand stand out to consumers. 

Just look at the search volume for some of their original products. Their “Balm Dotcom” lip balm generates over 2.4k searches per month, while their newer eye shadow product “Cloud Paint” generates over 4.4k searches per month. Glossier’s success in creating interest for these unique product names has played a major role in the brand’s rapid increase in social engagement, organic traffic and audience growth. 

This “beauty trailblazer” has proven its popularity and quickly became one of the most searched brands on Sephora’s site. Glossier’s ability to generate this overpouring demand has led them to its first wholesale partnership with Sephora. Their products will be sold in North America in Sephora stores and Sephora.com starting in early 2023. Glossier’s display of successful demand generation has opened new opportunities for the brand to grow its audience and gain recognition from big names, like Sephora, in the cosmetic industry. 

Creative 

Glossier uses unique visuals to target a diverse group of younger women. The images they use on their website and in their ads look far from glitzy runway models or stock photography.  

Creative is a large contributor to your brand’s voice and engagement. In a survey by Sprout Social, 40% of consumers selected memorable content as a key factor that makes brands stand out from the competition. In addition, 33% of survey respondents chose distinct personality and 32% chose compelling storytelling. It’s safe to say that Glossier has done their research and developed a powerful brand identity through a combination of content, personality and storytelling. The visuals they use support their brand voice and draw in new audiences. 

The images below are a few examples of Glossier’s ads. With a target audience of millennials who prefer a “no-makeup makeup” look, Glossier uses their signature millennial pink packaging and undertones to create dreamy but realistic ads. Glossier uses bold and empowering imagery of everyday people in all different shapes, sizes and ethnicities to connect with consumers.   

In just eight years, Glossier has given big-name cosmetic companies a run for their money. They’ve capitalized on campaigns featuring everyday women and natural makeup looks. Glossier’s ability to step into the marketplace with compelling visuals, a distinct brand identity and strong understanding of demand generation has allowed them to dominate this highly competitive space.     

Brooklinen 

Linen startup Brooklinen debuted in 2014 and have since exploded in popularity. Over the years, they’ve expanded from just a few sheet styles to offering comforters, pillows, robes, towels and loungewear. The brand prides themselves on keeping costs affordable by cutting out middlemen such as wholesalers. 

Brooklinen has over 100,000 five-star reviews and has been recognized by top industry publications such as Apartment Therapy, Good Housekeeping and the New York Times’ Wirecutter. We looked at Brooklinen’s SEO strategy to see how they’ve created visibility and credibility. 

Rich snippets 

One factor that has contributed to Brooklinen’s success in the digital space is the brand’s use of schema markup. Schema markup is a form of microdata that creates an enhanced description of your page and allows your site to appear in Google’s rich snippets. Also known as rich results, rich snippets are search results that are presented as more than your standard result page. For example, a review page that features star ratings and stats directly in the SERP is an example of a rich snippet.  

Schema is important because it makes it easier for customers to understand the key takeaways of your page, which in turn can help create a positive public opinion and inspire customer loyalty. In addition, customers are more likely to click on your website if the information is presented in a rich snippet. 

We looked at one of Brooklinen’s best-selling product pages to see schema markup in action. Note how the paid search ad in the following screenshot features descriptions of different subcategories that allow users to see key details before clicking through to the site. With this ad, customers can choose the link that best applies to what they’re looking for. 

While schema markup is a very helpful tool, even the most experienced SEO and web specialists can find it complicated. One way to implement schema while ensuring your site remains compliant with the latest guidelines is to use Google’s structured data tool.  

The image below shows the backside of the schema found in Brooklinen’s down comforter result. AggregateRating is the type of schema responsible for showing reviews at the bottom of the meta description. This helps with click-through rates from the SERP and gives the user confidence that the product is legitimate. 

Taking the time to understand schema and use it the right way has certainly paid off for Brooklinen and helped them stand out as a credible and reliable source among industry competitors. 

Backlinks  

Brooklinen has some impressive backlinks pointing to their site. Backlinks from authoritative websites tell Google that your site contains credible and relevant information.  

Earning authoritative, relevant backlinks is a core component of link building and one of the best ways to boost keyword rankings, but it isn’t easy. Our advice is to focus on quality over quantity. While having a lot of backlinks sounds great, it can end up being more harmful than good if those backlinks come from uncredible, spammy or irrelevant sites. When reaching out to websites and requesting a backlink, it’s important to consider elements such as relevancy, Domain Authority, traffic, and the look and feel of the website. 

Taking a look at Brooklinen’s backlink portfolio, we can see the impact that a high-quality link can make. Brides is a top wedding publication in the United States that has been around for 87 years. Their website brings in over 14 million visitors a month and has an impressive Domain Authority score of 84. Their article titled “The 17 Best Cotton Anniversary Gifts Your S.O. Will Love”—which receives about 8k visitors a month—links back to Brooklinen’s Classic Move-In Bundle product page. 

This link on Brides.com exposes Brooklinen to a whole new audience and helps drive qualified traffic to their site. The article features a clear call-to-action, giving users direct and easy access to purchase the featured Brooklinen product. Since this article is focused on anniversary gift ideas and Brooklinen has a dedicated anniversary and gift section on their site, this is certainly a relevant article for them to be featured in. 

This is just one of many high-quality, relevant backlinks pointing to the Brooklinen site. There’s no doubt that Brooklinen’s SEO strategy is part of what has helped them stay at the top of their game.  

Grow Your Business With IDX 

Starting a business from the ground up is no easy feat, and continuing to grow your business over the years is a whole other battle.  

Digital marketing is vital to creating and sustaining a successful company. Ramp, Glossier and Brooklinen all started out in one of the most competitive cities in the world, but they were able to become frontrunners in their respective industries. 

No matter the industry, developing a strong digital strategy is the key to long-lasting success. Not sure where to start with your digital marketing strategy? Go ahead and get in touch with our digital marketing experts. We’re happy to help you create a strategy from scratch or optimize your existing digital marketing efforts.