Who is this article for?
This article is part of a series intended for anyone who would like to grow their program and recruit additional partners.
After selecting your partner type and building out your rewards program, you’ll be ready to start recruiting partners. Finding the right partners for your program is key to a thriving partner program.
Types of recruitment
There are two types of partner recruitment:
- Inbound recruitment: where partners discover your program themselves
- Outbound recruitment: where you reach out to partners to invite them to your program
| Inbound partner recruitment | Outbound partner recruitment |
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Partners discover your program through:
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You discover and reach out to partners through:
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What to focus on first
Between inbound and outbound recruitment, which should you focus on first? The answer is both!
Inbound and outbound recruitment are two halves of a single solid recruitment strategy. If you rely entirely on inbound partner recruitment, you’re likely to see a slow start to your program as it takes time for word to spread and reach your ideal partner persona.
Outbound recruitment can be incredibly effective and is especially valuable at kickstarting your program early — but it’s difficult to scale up and won’t reach everyone.