Everyone knows peer-to-peer (P2P) is a rocket booster for event visibility and registrations. But here’s what most people miss: it’s also a hidden sponsorship machine sitting right under your nose.
Snöball’s Peer-to-Peer Event Marketing 2024 Benchmark Report shows P2P campaigns lift visibility by 51%, convert shares at nearly 32%, and bring in a third of new attendees through digital word-of-mouth.
Not bad for something that feels almost effortless.
Need receipts? Here are a few specific real-world campaigns that cashed in.
- Premiere Orlando 2024 (Informa Markets) → 20,340 advocates activated, 6x ROI, 18% bump in attendance.
- SIAL Canada 2024 (Comexposium) → 38.5% conversion from referral shares, 30x ROI, bilingual campaigns + exhibitor codes.
- ITC Vegas 2024 (Clarion Events) → 64% of participants became brand ambassadors.
Driving registrations is only half the story. P2P also opens up an entirely new sponsorship playbook; one that turns every share, video, and email into revenue potential.
In this article, we will highlight five sponsorship opportunities in your peer-to-peer campaigns to get that revenue wheel spinning.
1) Put sponsors on your social cards
What it is
Every advocate gets a ready-to-share “I’m attending” or “Come to my session” card. Snöball auto-generates these for attendees, speakers, exhibitors, and partners with trackable links and co-branded CTAs across 17+ channels.
How to monetize
- Add “Presented by” badges on attendee and speaker social cards
- Offer tiered logo treatments – gold, diamond, platinum
- Include sponsor UTM links on landing pages
- Sell vertical-specific exclusivity
Why sponsors love this
These cards travel through high-trust, personal networks. They offer brand-safe, non-intrusive visibility where it counts.
Packaging ideas
- Always-on share pack – sponsor logo on all attendee cards for X weeks
- Speaker spotlight pack – logo on speaker cards plus session-specific landing-page logo
- Vertical takeover – exclusivity for a defined audience segment
Measure it
Show the proof: impressions, shares per advocate, clicks, and registrations that sponsors can actually claim credit for.
2) Monetize personalized video invites
What it is
Video invites let speakers, partners, and even attendees record short, personal invites that are embedded in landing pages. Snöball offers “Video Invites” as a value-add feature that captures your advocates’ trusted voice at scale.
How to monetize
- Add sponsor slates (3–5 seconds) at the start or end of a video
- Insert a static logo frame or lower-third throughout
- Build sponsored session trailers for headline speakers and bundle distribution
Why it works
Humans buy from humans. And when a speaker looks right at the camera and says, ‘Join me,’ it works. Now imagine that trust rubs off on your sponsor, too.
Packaging ideas
- Speaker series presented by [brand] – sponsor owns the pre-roll across all speaker invites
- Thought-leader bundles – 10 featured sessions with sponsor end-cards and pinned landing-page logos
- Geo/language packs – sell different sets for bilingual or regional tracks
Measure it
Count what matters… plays, completion, shares, clicks, and ultimately, how many sign-ups sponsors can trace back to their video.
Video plays, completion rate, share rate, clicks to registration, and sponsor attribution on landing-page journeys.
3) Add sponsor space on your Social Proof Wall
What it is
A Social Proof Wall aggregates real-time buzz from attendees, speakers, and exhibitors. It becomes a high-impact touchpoint on landing pages.
How to monetize
- Place a sponsor banner or sticky logo at the top of the wall
- Include sponsored quotes or testimonials
- Offer themed takeovers during big moments – keynote week, award announcements
Why sponsors care
Sponsors want proof people noticed them. Show them dwell time, clicks, and registrations influenced by their placement.
Packaging ideas
- Momentum masthead – top slot logo for X days with guaranteed impressions
- Quote carousel – sponsor-framed social blurbs from advocates
- Moment takeover – 48-hour ownership around a program reveal
Measure it
Impressions, dwell time, CTR to sponsor site, view-through registrations.
4) Make sponsors the hero behind referral perks
What it is
Referral incentives (discounts, giveaways, perks) motivate advocates to share and peers to act. With Snöball, these can be co-branded or sponsor-funded.
How to monetize
- “Powered by Sponsor A” discount in the advocate CTA and email – “Use code SPONSORNAME for $X off”
- Sponsored lucky draw for referrers and referees – gift cards, subscriptions, or product bundles
- Service credit coupons – sponsor offers a redeemable benefit for registrants who arrive via referral
Why it works
It’s the triple win! Advocates share more, attendees act faster, and sponsors look like heroes.
Packaging ideas
- Referral booster – co-branded discount code across the campaign
- Two-sided incentive – referrer perk plus attendee perk, both labeled “Thanks to [Sponsor]”
- Category Exclusive Offer – e.g., logistics partner offers shipping credit for exhibitors who register
Measure it
Prove ROI in plain English: redemptions, higher conversion, and lower acquisition costs.
5) Brand the referral emails your advocates trigger
What it is
Snöball automates personalized outreach that nudges advocates to share and routes peers to co-branded landing pages. These are peer-to-peer messages sent to warm inboxes—highly trusted and very clickable.
How to monetize
- These aren’t cold emails, they’re warm nudges from trusted contacts. Slap a sponsor banner at the top, and you’ve just put your partner’s brand in the friendliest inboxes in town.
- Include sponsor bylines in speaker outreach – “This invite supported by [Brand]”
- Place sponsor snippets below CTAs with a single-line value prop
Why sponsors love it
It sits in the highest-trust inboxes—warm contacts from people who actually know each other. It’s prime real estate—without the cold outreach fatigue.
Packaging ideas
- Inbox Anchor – sponsor header in all outbound advocate nudges for the campaign duration
- Speaker Mailer Series – sponsor owns the top strip on speaker invites only
- Nurture Drip – 3-part sponsored reminder sequence for late registrants
Measure it
Sponsors care about what happens after the open—clicks, conversions, and even replies that mention their brand.
How to price and package for net-new revenue
Think of it as three levers you can pull.
- Impression-based – price social card placements and wall banners on guaranteed reach
- Outcome-based – price video invite slates and email headers on clicks or assisted registrations
- Value-based bundles – speaker packs, segment exclusives, or big-moment takeovers that feel too good to pass up.
A sample bundle:
- Social cards presented by Sponsor A across attendees and speakers
- Sponsor top-strip on referral emails
- 5 marquee speaker video invites with slates
- Social proof wall masthead for program week
- Sponsored two-sided perk code
Add limited exclusivity by vertical or track, and you’ve just built an entire sponsor inventory within your P2P program.
Implementation playbook
- Take stock
Cards, videos, emails, walls, every surface is potential sponsor real estate.
- Build sponsor packages
Offer 3 tiers: Starter, Plus, Takeover—backed by real performance benchmarks
- Wire in creative
Upload sponsor marks to cards, video frames, email headers, wall takeovers
- Track and report
Use Snöball’s analytics to show view-through, click-through, shares, and registrations
- Wrap it up for sponsors
Send clean post-campaign recaps with performance stats, sample visuals, and next-cycle ideas
Bottomline
Peer-to-peer event marketing offers a lot more than amplifying your brand’s voice.
You can create sponsorable, monetizable surfaces across every stage of the attendee journey.
When you plug in sponsors the smart way, you get to engage your audience while unlocking new revenue streams at the same time.
