This article is part of SourceFlow’s “Should recruitment marketers be incentivised?” series, where recruitment leaders and marketers share different perspectives on incentives, commission structures and commercial performance in recruitment marketing.
I absolutely believe recruitment marketing should be incentivised, but only when it’s tied to genuine commercial value.
With more than 20 years’ experience in recruitment, I’ve seen first-hand how effective marketing can become a major revenue generator for a recruitment business. For me, recruitment marketing is not simply a support function or a brand-building exercise. It keeps the business front of mind, creates demand, attracts candidates, warms up clients and generates high-quality inbound leads.
What I don’t agree with is rewarding vanity metrics.
Likes, followers, impressions and engagement may have some value, but they should not form the foundation of a reward scheme. Otherwise, you risk encouraging noise instead of meaningful business activity.
Instead, marketing incentives should be tied to quality lead generation, conversion and revenue influence.
At Cast, some of the most successful incentive structures we introduced focused on marketing-generated inbound leads.
These leads were tracked carefully and consistently converted into retained business at a higher rate than many consultant-generated leads. As a result, the marketing team was rewarded when their work created genuine commercial opportunities.
The importance of attribution
For marketing incentives to work, there needs to be a clear and trusted system for tracking where leads come from.
In my business, marketing leads had to come through specific routes such as:
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Website forms
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A dedicated marketing inbox
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Tracked phone lines
Everything was logged in the CRM, and the source of each opportunity was visible across the wider business. This avoided disputes over ownership and made marketing’s contribution far easier to measure.
The risk of rewarding the wrong output
One of the challenges with incentivising marketing is that teams can become too focused on the wrong outputs. I’ve seen businesses reward lead volume without enough focus on lead quality or commercial value. The strongest incentive schemes connect marketing activity to conversion, retained work and revenue.
I also think recruitment businesses can change direction too quickly. Market positioning, brand building and demand creation are not quick fixes. They require consistency, patience and proper execution.
Recruitment businesses also need to think beyond short-term billings
I also believe recruitment businesses need to think beyond short-term billings. While short-term incentives can create energy and momentum, they should not come at the expense of long-term market positioning.
Recruitment marketing often creates value before a deal exists by building trust, visibility and credibility in the market, especially in larger or scaling businesses where brand, content and market presence can materially improve future sales performance.
So, should recruitment marketing be incentivised?
I believe recruitment marketing should be incentivised when it can prove a meaningful contribution to commercial outcomes.
It should be directly connected to quality lead generation, conversion and revenue influence.
The strongest incentive schemes do not reward visibility for visibility’s sake. They reward marketing for creating the demand, trust and market attention that ultimately leads to revenue.
Key principles to remember:
1. Treat recruitment marketing as a revenue generator
Marketing should not sit on the sidelines as a support function. It can become one of the biggest contributors to growth.
2. Do not reward vanity metrics
Likes, followers and impressions should not be incentivised unless they connect to genuine business outcomes.
3. Incentivise quality, not volume
The focus should be on high-quality inbound leads, retained opportunities and revenue influence — not simply the number of leads generated.
4. Build a clear attribution process
Tracked forms, dedicated inboxes, call tracking and CRM discipline are essential if marketing incentives are going to be trusted.
5. Balance short-term revenue with long-term market positioning
Recruitment businesses often reward immediate billings, but marketing also plays a vital role in building future demand, trust and credibility.
About the contributor
Wayne Brophy is the founder and former owner of Cast UK, Cast USA and The Talent Team. With more than 20 years’ experience in recruitment, he has built and scaled specialist recruitment businesses across multiple markets.
Other perspectives in this series:
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Amity Watts: Why recruitment marketers should be commercially incentivised
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Robert Woodford: Recruitment marketers SHOULDN’T be incentivised
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Will Astbury: As recruitment marketer, bonus schemes have been responsible for my success
The views expressed in this article are those of the individual contributor and do not necessarily reflect the views of SourceFlow
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