Marketing gig worker-focused fintech

Gig workers are both a dominant section of the labor force as well as a grossly underserved demographic. This population makes up 36% of the workforce in the US, but often struggles to make ends meet due to irregular income or insufficient labor protections.

Given the wide range of user needs gig workers face, fintechs tend to approach the platforms they work through as a vehicle for growth, instead of opting for a B2C path. Regardless of their ultimate strategy, though, gig worker-focused fintechs tend to succeed in their marketing efforts by solving for the following:

Filling crucial information gaps

Operating as single-person businesses, gig workers are often thrust for the first time into managing their day-to-day business-related finances. If a fintech is pursuing a B2C model, providing contractor-specific how-tos can be a way to serve all gig workers, and also establish expertise and trust with potential customers.

If opting for a B2B route, fintechs can serve content that helps those who hire gig workers in compliantly managing relevant payments, forms, and operations. Filling in these gaps may require targeted user research that looks into the knowledge gaps of accountants and HR professionals at firms hiring gig workers.

Leveraging partnerships

Given the range of platforms that gig workers use to find work, fintechs may see marketing and sales success by partnering with major platforms like Uber, Lyft, or TaskRabbit. Using a B2B2C marketing and sales route can efficiently reach millions of gig workers, and opens the door to rapid growth.

However, growing through these partnerships alone leaves out gig workers who work outside platforms, and lets competitors chase after other gig-worker groups, such as early-stage entrepreneurs and other independent contractors.

Solving for accessibility

Despite documented shortcomings, the gig economy does provide immigrant workers the opportunity to move into job markets that may otherwise be inaccessible to them. Serving immigrant communities with fintech solutions may therefore require targeted content as well as language-specific marketing.