How far in advance should I promote an online event?

Start promoting to your own audience 3 to 4 weeks before the event. Get your speakers and partners ready 2 to 3 weeks out, with a promo kit and their own tracking links.

What is the best way to promote an online event?

Partners are the best channel for most events. When your speakers and affiliates share your event with their audiences, you reach people who already trust them.

How do I get more people to attend my online event?

Send a short email every morning of the event with that day's sessions and the link. Add a live kickoff and a place for attendees to talk, and remind speakers to share their own session day.

How do I measure online event marketing?

Track registrations by source, your registration page conversion, attendance, pass sales and sales by partner. Give every partner and channel its own tracking link, so you know what actually worked.

Can AI help with online event marketing?

Yes. AI can draft your emails and posts, cut clips from interviews and repurpose the recordings, but your promise, partners and voice still decide the results.

21 online event marketing strategies that work in 2026

The 21 online event marketing strategies I use before, during and after every summit, with real examples from List Building School and the AI Creator Summit.

door Navid Moazzez·Bijgewerkt 27 sep 2026·8 min leestijd·

21 online event marketing strategies that work in 2026

Most people market their online events the wrong way.

They build the event for months, then post the registration page a week before it starts, send 2 emails and hope people show up.

I've hosted virtual summits since 2014, from The Branding Summit to the AI Creator Summit. My List Building School summit added over 26,000 subscribers in 2 weeks, and $104,811 in pass sales came in before it even started. None of that came from one launch post.

It came from a marketing plan that starts weeks before the event and keeps working long after it ends.

Here are the 21 online event marketing strategies I use, split into what to do before, during and after your event.

What is online event marketing?

Online event marketing is everything you do to get the right people to register for your event, show up, and buy what you offer.

It covers summits, webinars, workshops, challenges and live launches. The format changes. The job doesn't: turn attention into registrations, registrations into attendees, and attendees into customers.

The difference between an event that fills up and one that flops is almost never the content. It's the plan around it.

Navid Moazzez

@thenavidm

Virtual event marketing isn't about going viral. It's about positioning your offer so the right people say yes.

Why online events still work so well

Attention is harder to get every year. Ads cost more, organic reach swings up and down, and a short video is forgotten in a day.

An online event does something a post can't. It gets people to block out time for you, learn from you and the experts around you for several days, and trust you before you ever make an offer.

That's why events still convert. The offer is part of the experience, not an interruption at the end.

And now AI does most of the production work, from the registration page to the replay clips. So the marketing is where your time should go.

More on why in 21 benefits of virtual events.

Before you market anything: lock these in

Get these 3 right first, or no promotion will save the event.

One clear promise. People don't sign up for "a summit". They sign up for an outcome, like building an email list or learning Claude Code.
A name that sells itself. List Building School and the AI Creator Summit tell you what you'll get before you read another word.
A reason for partners to care. Your speakers and affiliates are your biggest channel. Decide early what's in it for them.