Most people promote their virtual events the wrong way.
They rely on random posts, last-minute emails, and hope someone shows up.
That’s why I created this guide.
These are the 21 online event marketing strategies my students and I have used to generate tens of millions in sales and millions of qualified leads through virtual summits, webinars, and other online events.
Whether you’re promoting your first event or scaling your tenth, this playbook will show you:
- How to get more visibility
- How to attract the right people
- And how to turn signups into serious revenue
Let’s dive in.
Table of contents
What is virtual event marketing?
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Virtual event marketing is the process of promoting an online event to attract the right audience, increase attendance, and drive sales. It includes everything from pre-launch email campaigns and speaker promotion to affiliate strategies, content repurposing, and post-event follow-up.
Virtual events cover summits, webinars, product launches, workshops, and even live streams. But no matter the format, the goal is usually the same: attract high-quality leads, deliver real value, and turn attention into revenue.
What separates great online event marketing from the rest is strategy.
It’s not about blasting promotions a week before you go live.
It’s about building momentum from day one.
That means positioning your event the right way, bringing in aligned speakers, using proven affiliate strategies, and turning your event into an asset that keeps working long after it ends.
My students and I have used this approach across hundreds of virtual events.
It works in literally any market… from harp music and tennis to self-publishing, finance, play therapy, insurance, and more. I’ve never seen a niche where it doesn’t work.
Whether you’re a first-time creator or a 7-figure entrepreneur, the system adapts to your industry and stage of business. These aren’t one-size-fits-all tactics. They’re proven virtual event marketing principles that scale.
Navid Moazzez
@thenavidm
Virtual event marketing isn’t about going viral.
It’s about positioning your offer so the right people say yes.
The right hook, the right partners, and a proven system — that’s how you scale.
Not luck. Not hype. Execution.
Why online event marketing works in 2025 (better than ever)
Online event marketing is more relevant than ever in [currentyyear].
The global virtual events market was valued at $204.8 billion in 2024.
And it’s projected to reach $957.1 billion by 2033, growing at an annual rate of 18.7%.
People aren’t simply attending these events.
They’re actively choosing them.
77.2% of attendees say they prefer virtual events over in-person ones because they’re easier to attend and more accessible (vFairs).
Why does that matter for you?
Because attention is harder to get than ever.
- Paid ads are more expensive and less reliable.
- Organic reach is inconsistent across platforms.
- Short-form content fades within hours.
- Audiences are overwhelmed with low-value offers.
High-impact virtual events cut through the noise.
They give you a focused way to deliver value, build trust, and make an offer — without relying on constant content creation or chasing attention across multiple social platforms.
More importantly, they convert — when done right.
- Virtual events attract better quality leads because people spend more time engaging with you and your message.
- They warm up cold audiences quickly so when you make an offer, they’re ready to buy.
- Your offer is part of the experience, not something random at the end. That’s why it converts.
- With the right positioning and speaker lineup, your audience sees the value before you ever pitch.
- You can repurpose the entire event into long-term assets that keep generating leads and sales long after it’s over (now easier than ever with AI tools).
The demand is growing.
The model still works.
And the results speak for themselves if you follow a proven system that delivers real results.
That’s why I still use virtual events, alongside hundreds of other creators, in different industries and at every stage of business.
They remain one of the most leveraged and scalable strategies in 2025.
Navid Moazzez
@thenavidm
A well-executed online event is more than a launch.
It’s a trust-building machine that drives leads, sales, and long-term growth.
What should you keep in mind when promoting virtual events?
Promoting a virtual event isn’t about sending a few emails or posting the registration page on social media the week before.
That’s what most people do.
It’s also why most virtual events flop.
If you want real results like high-quality leads, engagement, and sales, you need a system.
One that starts early, positions your event clearly, and builds momentum over time.
Here’s what you need to lock in before you promote anything:
- Positioning is everything: If your event doesn’t solve a real problem for a specific audience, no promotion strategy will save it. Nail the promise.
- Start earlier than you think: The most successful events kick off the promotion at least 3-4 weeks in advance. Warm up your own list, activate your speakers, and create pre-launch buzz.
- Focus on the outcome: People don’t sign up for “virtual summits“. They sign up for solutions. Every email, post, and promo asset should answer: “What’s in it for them?”
- Leverage your partners like a pro: Most hosts give speakers a generic swipe file and call it a day. But your partners are your growth engine when you arm them with the right tools and clear direction.
- Build real momentum: Promotion isn’t just one post or email; it’s a consistent, strategic campaign that compounds over time.
This is the difference between an event that fades… and one that fuels your business for years.
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Pro tip: The best virtual event promotion strategies don’t rely on one-off posts. Create a series of high-value interactions that build anticipation and make your online event feel unmissable.
Navid Moazzez
@thenavidm
The power of virtual events lies in the process, not the event itself.
The work you put in before the event determines the results.
21 online event marketing strategies to boost registrations and sales
Ready to boost registrations and sales for your online event?
Here are 21 online event marketing strategies that actually work better than ever in 2025.
- Start promoting early
- Creating a high-converting event landing page
- Leveraging your speakers and partners for promotion
- Effective email campaigns for boosting registrations
- Social media strategies for building buzz
- Paid advertising strategies
- Building engagement with pre-event content
- Running pre-event webinars or live streams
- Offering early bird incentives
- Using testimonials and social proof
- Gamification tactics to encourage sign-ups
- Collaborating with influencers
- Building a high-quality waiting list
- Limited-time offers for urgency
- Email reminders and countdowns
- Retargeting abandoned registrants
- Networking opportunities before your event
- SEO optimization for your event landing page
- Pre-event surveys to tailor content
- Ensuring a seamless event experience
- Post-event follow-up for maximizing sales
Online event promotion strategies before your event
Before your event goes live, you need to start building momentum and generating buzz. Here are the key strategies to promote your event before it begins:
1. Start promoting early
Promote your event 3–4 weeks in advance to your audience, and 2–3 weeks for speakers and partners.
This gives you enough time to build momentum and ensure everyone is prepared.
How to do it:
- Segment your audience: Tailor your promotions for existing contacts and new potential attendees.
- Start with teasers: Share early sneak peeks of the event content or exclusive guest speakers to get them excited.
- Set up a calendar: Plot out your promotion schedule to ensure you’re covering all touchpoints consistently.
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Pro tip: The sooner you get people excited, the more likely they are to register and commit. A countdown in your email subject lines or social posts works wonders for urgency.
2. Craft a high-converting registration page
A well-designed event registration page is where your visitors will make the decision to register. Make it compelling, clear, and focused.
Here’s an example:
How to do it:
- Include social proof: Add testimonials, case studies, or recognizable logos of past clients or speakers to build trust.
- Clear CTAs: Your call-to-action should stand out. Make sure your “Register now” button is visible and easy to find.
- Mobile optimization: Ensure your landing page is mobile-friendly — most people will access it on their phones.
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Pro tip: A/B test your landing page to test different headlines, images, or calls to action to see what resonates best with your audience.
3. Leverage your speakers and partners
Your speakers and affiliates are crucial promoters of your event. They’re a valuable asset in helping expand your reach and attracting a more engaged audience.
How to do it:
- Provide them with resources: Share pre-written social media posts, email copy, and banners to make promotion easier.
- Offer incentives: Consider offering affiliate commissions, bonuses, or free access to the event as a reward for helping drive sign-ups.
- Create an ambassador program: Encourage your speakers to engage with their audience in the lead-up to the event through personal invitations or behind-the-scenes content.
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Pro tip: Make sure your speakers are equally invested in promoting the event. Set clear expectations upfront, and encourage them to add personal touches to the content they share.
4. Build an email sequence for engagement
Email marketing is one of the most powerful tools for promoting your event.
A solid email sequence can turn interested leads into actual registrants and drive sales.
How to do it:
- Create a sequence: Start with a welcome email, followed by a series of value-packed emails that highlight event benefits, speaker sneak peeks, and exclusive content.
- Offer early access or bonuses in the email sequence to create urgency.
- Segment your list: Tailor your emails based on how engaged the person is with your content. For example, send more detailed emails to those who clicked but didn’t register.
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Pro tip: Personalize your emails to increase open rates. Use the recipient’s name and reference any previous interactions (if applicable).
ConvertKit helps online creators with their email marketing. This is my email marketing software I personally use in my business.
5. Use social media to build anticipation
Social media is one of the best ways to get your audience excited and involved before your event. Consistent posts, teasers, and engagement will keep your event top-of-mind.
How to do it:
- Post regularly: Build a content calendar and post consistently across all channels. Mix it up with behind-the-scenes, speaker previews, and countdowns.
- Engage with your audience: Respond to comments, ask questions, and create polls or quizzes to generate conversation.
- Use event hashtags: Create a unique hashtag for the event and encourage your audience and speakers to use it in their posts.
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Pro tip: Leverage Instagram Stories or TikTok for behind-the-scenes content and sneak peeks. These are quick, engaging ways to keep your audience involved without heavy production.
6. Run targeted paid ads
Paid advertising can amplify your efforts and help you reach a broader audience. The key is to be strategic with your targeting.
How to do it:
- Define your audience: Use Facebook or Instagram ads to target people who are already familiar with your niche or related interests.
- Use retargeting: Retarget people who have visited your registration page but didn’t sign up.
- Budget wisely: Start small with a test campaign, and scale up once you find what works.
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Pro tip: Use video ads to promote your event. Video can be more engaging than static ads and can effectively convey your event’s value.
Create a professional promo video
Promoting virtual events during the event
Email your list
Speaker & partner promotion
Professional speaker presentation
Engage the online community
Live social media posts
- Affiliate promotion
- Speaker promo kits
- Email sequences
- Retargeting ads
- VIP pass + bonus stacking
Virtual event marketing strategies after it ends
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Follow-up emails
Turn virtual event evergreen
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Repurposing your event content
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Lead nurturing
Backend promotion
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Marketing campaigns and strategies before your virtual event
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- Social media marketing
- Email marketing
- Send out press releases
- Create a high-converting landing page
- SEO optimization
Marketing strategies during your online event
- Live social media posts
- Engage the online community
- Professional speaker presentation
Marketing strategies after your virtual event
- Follow-up emails
- Repurposing your event
- Lead nurturing
How to measure the success of your virtual event marketing strategy
To truly measure the success of your virtual event marketing strategy, focus on key metrics that reflect real impact and whether your goals were achieved.
Here’s a breakdown of the most important metrics:
1. Registrations vs attendance
Tracking registrations vs. actual attendance is key to measuring your event’s success.
For free, high-value online events, a 50-60% attendance rate is typical (for regular webinars, it can be around 20-30%). But, if your audience is engaged early on, you’ll see better turnout.
- Track your registration-to-attendance ratio.
- Send reminder emails and exclusive sneak peeks to boost attendance.
- Incentivize attendees with bonuses for showing up (e.g., early access, bonus content).
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Pro tip: A high attendance rate means your pre-event marketing is working. Double down on engagement strategies early — think sneak previews, early bird bonuses, and speaker highlights.
2. Speaker and partner promotion
The promotion from your speakers and partners can make or break your virtual event.
When they actively promote and engage with the event, it boosts your reach, credibility, registrations, and sales.
- Track how many speakers and partners are sharing your event on social media, email, or other channels.
- Measure how often they promote the event to understand their level of involvement.
- Use custom affiliate tracking links to measure referral traffic generated from their promotions.
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Pro tip: Provide your speakers and partners with swipe copy and promotional resources to it super easy to share with their audience. Focus on the relationship and give value beyond the promo to make it a win-win.
3. Engagement levels
Engagement is a direct reflection of how well your content resonates with attendees.
It’s one thing to have people show up, but are they actively participating?
Higher engagement equals higher conversion rates down the line.
- Monitor chat activity, poll participation, and questions during the event.
- Track session duration to see if people are sticking around to the end.
- Measure social media engagement — is your event trending in your industry?
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Pro tip: Keep your audience engaged with live polls, Q&A sessions, and real-time offers. The more interaction, the more likely attendees will take action — and convert into leads or buyers.
4. Conversion metrics (sales and upsells)
Conversions are the ultimate goal — did your attendees take action?
Whether it’s buying a digital product, signing up for a service, or upgrading to a premium pass, this is where your virtual event truly shows its value.
- Track all-access pass / premium pass / bundle sales, and upsell conversions.
- Monitor how many attendees upgrade from free registrations to paid options.
- Analyze post-event offers and how many attendees took action.
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Pro tip: Use exclusive content or VIP experiences to make premium passes more desirable. The more personalized and valuable the offering, the higher the conversion rates.
5. Post-event actions
The real magic happens after your event. Post-event actions help you determine the long-term value of your event and continue generating revenue from the attendees who are already warmed up.
- Track purchases of related offers, like online courses, coaching programs, or membership communities.
- Monitor how many attendees sign up for affiliated products or services after the event.
- Measure follow-up sign-ups for any exclusive offers or content that you promoted during the event.
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Pro tip: After the event, send personalized follow-up emails with tailored offers (like a course or coaching session) that directly relate to what they learned during the event. This is where you can maximize the lifetime value of your attendees.
6. Event profitability and long-term value
It’s important to track both the immediate revenue from your event and the long-term impact it has on your business. This helps you understand the full value of the event, beyond just one-time sales.
- Track event costs (platform fees, marketing, speakers) vs. revenue from ticket sales, premium pass upgrades, and backend offers (courses, coaching, memberships).
- Measure how effectively you’re nurturing long-term leads and converting them into paying customers over time.
- Use UTM tracking to see which marketing channels delivered the best revenue and conversions.
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Pro tip: Monitor post-event conversions to calculate the full ROI. Online events like summits often continue to generate value long after they end.
7. Feedback & audience satisfaction
Read your post-event survey answers, and check how the attendees rated the entire event. Also, watch the polls, chats, and Q&A participation rate, and track the time spent on the event.
Common mistakes to avoid in online event marketing
Even experienced creators make mistakes that cost them leads, sales, and momentum.
Avoid these common pitfalls:
- Starting promotion too late: Waiting until the last minute kills momentum. Start 3–4 weeks in advance to warm up your audience.
- Not supporting your speakers and partners: Most summit hosts just send swipe copy and move on. Treat them like true collaborators and make it easy for them to promote with a clear plan.
- Treating it like a one-off webinar: A virtual summit needs real positioning, a campaign, and a conversion plan.
- No backend or follow-up: If you don’t have a system to monetize after the event, you’re leaving sales on the table.
- No clear hook or positioning: If your event sounds like everything else, people won’t care. Lead with a bold idea that grabs attention fast.
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Pro tip: Review what didn’t work after each event. Improve your system every time so each launch and online event promotion gets stronger.
Bonus: Best virtual event marketing software
You don’t need a huge tech stack to run a successful virtual event. But the right tools can save you time, improve your content, and help you convert more leads into sales.
Here are a few great creator tools I recommend.
In case you want to know what video setup to use for recording high-quality summit sessions, I’ve got you covered:
✨ More resources
- What is a virtual event?
- How to host a virtual event
- What is a virtual summit?
- How to host a virtual summit
- Different types of virtual events
- 21 benefits of virtual events
- Virtual event mistakes to avoid
- How to host a virtual conference
FAQs on promoting virtual events
Got questions about the best online event marketing strategies?
Below you’ll find some answers to common questions I see people ask when it comes to promoting virtual events.
What are online event marketing strategies?
Online event marketing strategies are methods used to promote events on the internet, aiming to attract participants and increase engagement.
Why is it important to market an online event?
Marketing an online event is crucial because it helps reach a wider audience, boosts attendance, and enhances overall event success.
What is social media marketing for events?
Social media marketing for events involves using platforms like Facebook, X (Twitter), and Instagram to share event details, engage with potential attendees, and create buzz.
How can I use email marketing for my event?
Email marketing can be used to send invitations, reminders, and updates about your event directly to your audience’s inboxes, encouraging them to register and participate.
What role does content marketing play in event promotion?
Content marketing involves creating valuable content related to your event, like blog posts or videos, which helps attract interest and establish authority in your topic area.
How can I leverage influencers for my event?
You can collaborate with influencers who have a following in your niche to promote your event through their platforms, leveraging their audience for greater reach.
What is the benefit of creating a dedicated event website?
A dedicated event website serves as a central hub for all information about the event, including registration, schedules, and speaker details, making it easier for attendees to find information.
How can I utilize webinars as a marketing tool?
Webinars can be used as promotional tools by offering free sessions that provide value and generate interest in the main event while capturing attendee information for follow-up.
What are paid ads and how do they help in promoting events?
Paid ads involve using platforms like Google Ads or Facebook Ads to target specific audiences with advertisements about your event, increasing visibility and potentially driving more registrations.
How do I measure the success of my online event marketing efforts?
You can measure success by tracking metrics such as registration numbers, attendance rates, engagement levels during the event, and feedback from participants through surveys.
Final thoughts on virtual event marketing
There you have it: 21 proven online event marketing strategies for promoting virtual events that actually work.
My students and I have used these strategies across hundreds of successful virtual events.
The events we’ve run have generated millions of leads and tens of millions in sales.
It has worked for first-time creators launching from scratch.
And for seasoned entrepreneurs growing multi-million dollar businesses.
This is the same proven virtual summit system I’ve used, refined, and taught for years.
It continues to work better than ever in 2025 across industries and all stages of business.
Now it’s your turn.
Use what you’ve learned to make your first or next online event a massive success.
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