How To Plan Your Next Trade Show Using CoSchedule

How To Plan Your Next Trade Show Using @CoSchedule
Click To TweetStep 1: Create A Marketing Campaign In CoSchedule
After you get a clear idea of everything you need to get done to execute your trade show… It’s time to create a marketing campaign in CoSchedule! AKA a folder inside CoSchedule that can house every single piece of content, project, event, social campaign, task, and deadline related to your trade show booth. Here’s how to make your marketing campaign in CoSchedule:- Head to your CoSchedule calendar
- Use the + sign to add content to your calendar and select “Marketing Campaign”
- Give your marketing campaign a name (ex. INBOUND)
- Select a color label (to make it easy to find on your calendar!)
- Give it a start date (the day you start working on items for the trade show) and an end date (this could be the start date of the trade show, the day your last post promo email goes out, or whenever the last item related to the trade show is due!)
What's the secret to planning perfect trade show booths with @CoSchedule? It starts with Marketing Campaigns ...
Click To TweetStep 2: Add EVERYTHING You Need For The Trade Show To Your Marketing Campaign
Once you’ve added your marketing campaign to the calendar… You can start adding everything (and yes, I mean EVERYTHING) you need to get done to perfectly execute your trade show.
- Trade show booth design
- Swag + prizes
- Geo-targeting Facebook Ads
- Itineraries for sales team
- Book hotels, flights, etc.
- Booth handouts/flyers
- Social campaigns (pre-trade show and post-trade show)
- Landing pages
- Blog post
- Booth video or presentation
- Post-trade show email campaign
- Inside your marketing campaign, hit the + sign in the upper right-hand corner.
- Select the type of project/type of content you want to add you want to add (article, project checklist, social campaign, etc.)
- Give it a title (ex. “Trade show booth design”)
- Give it a color label (usually the same label as the overall marketing campaign, but that’s up to you!)
- Choose the owner of the project (aka the person responsible for making sure the project is completed).
- Select the date that specific item is due.
- Repeat until you’ve added everything you need for your trade show!
Manage all the moving pieces that come with trade show planning in one place. Here's how to do it with @CoSchedule:
Click To TweetStep 3: Add Tasks, Owners, And Deadlines
Now for the BEST part…. Adding every task, owner of said task, and date the task is due to every item in your entire trade show plan! Yep, you read that right. LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE TASK you need to get done for your trade show can live inside CoSchedule.
- Research booth designs + layouts
- Design booth layout
- Research pricing
- Get approval on booth layout
- Order booth items
- Ship booth to trade show location
- Select one of the projects within your trade show folder
- Head to the right side of your screen (inside the project you just chose) and click on the bullet point tab to open up the task checklist
- Type your first task in the text box next to the empty check box
- Select the +Schedule button underneath your task to set a deadline
- Select the +Assign button underneath your task to assign a teammate to the the task
- Repeat until you’ve added all the tasks, deadlines, and owners related to this project!

Step 4: Track + Manage The Progress Of Your Entire Trade Show
Once you’ve got everything you need for the trade show booth planned out in CoSchedule… AND added all your tasks, deadlines, and owners… Now it’s time to make sure EVERYTHING gets done! And with CoSchedule…that’s the easy part. ? As tasks start getting checked off (and the trade show gets closer and closer)...CoSchedule makes it easy to get a bird’s eye view of individual projects in the trade show… Or even view the progress of your entire trade show using a handy BURN CHART! (#nerd) Or, if you’re looking to dive into the details (but don’t want to dive into every project associated with your trade show) head over to your Team Performance Report! Here you can gain powerful insight into your team’s overall progress on the trade show… Identify peaks and valleys in your team’s performance… AND get a quick view of who’s fallin’ behind on tasks (and who’s rockin’ it) with just a couple clicks. The best part? Having reports and progress percentages at your fingertips means you can spend less time tracking down incomplete tasks… And MORE time working on the thousand other items on your to-do list.