Reaching microentrepreneurs at national scale

How Growthr designed and executed a national digital growth campaign to connect small business owners, gig workers, and self-employed individuals with financial tools, powered by Mastercard Strive USA.

The Challenge

Reaching an audience that
doesn't self‑identify

Microentrepreneurs, gig workers, freelancers, side-hustle operators, often don't think of themselves as business owners. Mastercard Strive USA needed to find, acquire, and engage this hidden audience at national scale while building a research-backed understanding of their financial needs.

Audience discovery

Finding microentrepreneurs at scale when the audience doesn't search for "microentrepreneur," requiring creative keyword strategies and behavioral targeting.

Multi-phase complexity

An 18-month, 3-phase campaign spanning growth, research, content, engagement, and savings challenges, each phase building on the last.

Research integration

Acquisition had to feed research surveys, intervention testing, and funder reporting at every stage.

Our Approach

National reach.
Niche precision.

Phase 01: Foundation

Research, Data Architecture & Testing

Designed audience segments across gig workers, freelancers, and side-income earners. Launched initial $5K test spend across 4 audience segments and 6+ creatives to identify winning combinations before scaling. Built data filters and Tableau dashboards to track ME engagement across the platform.
Phase 02: Scale & Engage

National Campaign Launch & Interventions

Scaled winning ad segments nationally. Launched a Small Business Savings Challenge with tiered prizes to drive deep engagement. Simultaneously tested interventions, including microgrants, content format A/B tests, and dedicated dashboard sections, to measure what changed savings behavior for microentrepreneurs.
Phase 03: Optimize & Report

Tax Season Campaign & Dissemination

Launched a personalized Tax Season Small Business Challenge with savings races, ME-specific content, and trusted referrals. Delivered intervention analysis, research briefs, and a final report that Mastercard Strive USA now uses to set strategy for microentrepreneur financial inclusion.

Campaign Intelligence

Conversion efficiency
across the full funnel

Full-Funnel Architecture

Stage-over-stage campaign pipeline

Engagement Breakdown

Multi-channel member activation

Campaign Momentum

Engagement index across 18-month campaign lifecycle

Results

Full-funnel pipeline
at national scale

Over 18 months, we built and optimized a complete acquisition-to-engagement pipeline for an audience that doesn't self-identify and can't be reached by keyword. The campaign delivered every funder KPI and produced three research briefs that Mastercard still uses.

Months Executed

Audience Segments

100%

Funder KPIs Delivered

Research Briefs Published