Empowering 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

Growth couldn't happen in a vacuum. Acquisition had to feed into 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 moves the needle 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 comprehensive final report, directly informing Mastercard Strive USA's ongoing 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 a niche audience that's notoriously hard to reach. The multi-phase approach generated both quantitative impact and publishable research insights, delivering all funder KPIs and producing three research briefs informing Mastercard's ongoing strategy.

Months Executed

Audience Segments

100%

Funder KPIs Delivered

Research Briefs Published