Setup
Project Code Generator
What this is for: Creating a short reference code that identifies a project across all your campaign materials — naming conventions, UTMs, file names, briefs, and calendar exports.
When to use it: At the very start of a new campaign, before you set up any ads or assets. The code becomes the anchor for everything else.
Tips: Option A (Artist + Year) works for most projects. Use Option B if you're running multiple tours or campaigns for the same artist in the same year. Option C adds a venue or promoter suffix for co-branded campaigns.
Copy your chosen code into the Tour / Project Code field on the Naming tab.
Meta Ads
Campaign Naming Generator
What this is for: Building standardised Meta Ads campaign, ad set, and ad names that follow In Cahoots naming conventions — making it easy to filter, report on, and hand off campaigns.
When to use it: When setting up a new campaign in Meta Ads Manager. Generate the name here, copy it, paste it in.
Tips: Fill in all three levels (Campaign → Ad Set → Ad) before copying. The platform field at each level keeps naming consistent whether you're running FB only, IG only, or both.
Analytics
UTM Link Generator
What this is for: Adding UTM tracking parameters to links so you can see exactly which channel, campaign, and ad drove traffic in Google Analytics or your reporting tool.
When to use it: Any time you're sharing a link in a paid ad, EDM, social post, or press release. Never send a trackable link without UTMs.
Tips: Use your project code as the campaign value for easy filtering. Keep source and medium consistent across campaigns (e.g. always meta / paid, not Facebook / CPC).
Source defaults to in-cahoots. All values lowercased, spaces to hyphens.
Planning
Campaign Brief Snapshot
What this is for: Capturing the essential details of a campaign in a single shareable document — useful for onboarding a new team member, briefing a designer, or aligning with a client before work begins.
When to use it: At campaign kickoff, or any time you need to consolidate what's been agreed. The plain-text export can go straight into Notion, Google Docs, or an email.
Tips: The Key Messages field is worth spending time on — it's what everything else in the campaign should ladder back to. Keep it to 2–3 lines max.
Planning
Budget Splitter
What this is for: Breaking a total campaign budget into allocations across phases, cities, platforms, or any combination — so you can plan spend before going into Ads Manager.
When to use it: During campaign planning, when a client has confirmed a total budget and you need to decide how to distribute it. Also useful for client-facing budget proposals.
Tips: Start with your highest-level split (e.g. Phase), then add a second tier (e.g. City) to split each phase further. You can stack up to 3 tiers. Each tier pre-populates with standard values — remove the ones you don't need and adjust sliders from there.
Start with your primary split (e.g. Phase), then add a second tier (e.g. City) to split each phase further.
Campaign
Show Countdowns
What this is for: Tracking exactly how long until each show so you can assess which markets are in run home phase and need heavier spend or urgency messaging.
When to use it: During the active campaign period — bookmark this tab and check it weekly. Colour coding tells you at a glance where to focus: red = run home, amber = push phase, green = awareness.
Tips: Add all shows at the start of a tour so you can see the full picture. The optional venue name appears in the card for easy reference.
Green = 30+ days away (awareness/announce phase) · Amber = 15–29 days (push / onsale phase) · Red = 14 days or fewer (run home — maximise spend) · Capacity + sold fields optional — shows tickets remaining and % sold when filled
In Cahoots · Emergency Protocol
Oh no.
What's gone wrong?
Pick your situation. Get a circuit breaker. Come back to yourself. You've got this — you just forgot for a second.
Reality check
Okay. Tickets are slow. This is not a sign the universe is punishing you.
Slow sales at this point in a campaign is data, not a verdict. Before you catastrophise, answer these honestly:
- Are we actually behind — or just anxious?
- What does the sales curve look like vs last time?
- Have we actually pushed hard enough yet, or are we still in “hope” phase?
- Is the problem reach, conversion, or both?
- What do we know about this audience that we haven't fully used yet?
What you know how to do
You have turned around slow campaigns before. That's literally part of the job.
The run home plan exists for a reason. You know how to create urgency. You know which levers to pull. You are not out of moves. Make a list of everything untried: new creative, new audiences, EDM, socials push, PR angle, presale extension, influencer mention, partner post. Pick three. Do them today.
The thing nobody says out loud
Some shows just sell slowly and then sell. Some don't sell out and that's also fine.
A 70% house is not a failure. A campaign that tried everything and still came up short is still a good campaign. The artists you work with trust you because you care and you're good — not because every show sells out. Keep going.
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this
Name it
Something specific is making this hard. What is it, exactly?
Vague dread is worse than a named problem. Get specific:
- Are they being unclear, or are they changing their mind constantly?
- Do they not trust me, or do they not understand what I'm doing?
- Is the relationship broken, or just this conversation?
- Am I carrying something that's actually their job to carry?
- What would I tell a friend to do in this situation?
The professional truth
You are not their employee. You are their expert.
In Cahoots was built so you could do excellent work on your own terms. That means sometimes the most professional thing you can do is hold the line, explain your reasoning clearly, and let them decide whether they want to take your advice. You don't have to capitulate to every note. You can push back with warmth and still push back.
If it's really bad
Not every client is worth keeping. You are allowed to have that thought.
You've built enough of a reputation to be selective. If this relationship is costing you more than it's giving — in energy, in self-respect, in time — that's worth sitting with. Difficult clients are information about fit, not about your worth.
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this
Hello, this again
Oh good, the imposter feeling is back. Right on schedule.
Quick note: people who are actually frauds don't tend to worry this much about being frauds. The anxiety you're feeling is not evidence of incompetence — it's evidence that you care about doing good work. Those are different things.
The actual record
Let's look at what's objectively true.
You built a business. From scratch. You have clients who come back. You have artists who trust you with work that matters to them. You are doing an MBA while running said business. The voice saying you don't know what you're doing is not a reliable narrator.
- What's something I did recently that genuinely worked?
- Who have I helped this month?
- What do I know how to do that most people don't?
- What would a client say if asked why they work with me?
The only move here
You don't need to feel confident to act confident. You just need to start.
The imposter feeling doesn't go away when you get better. It just gets quieter and you get faster at ignoring it. Do the next thing. The feeling will follow.
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this
What's actually happening
You're nervous because you care. That's a feature, not a bug.
The anxiety is just energy that hasn't found its job yet. Give it a job:
- What are the three things I most want them to walk away knowing?
- What question am I most hoping they don't ask — and what's my honest answer?
- What do I know about this client or room that I can use?
- What's the worst realistic outcome — and can I handle it?
- What would a win look like, exactly?
What you're walking in with
You have done the work. You know this better than they do.
That's not arrogance — it's just true. You've been thinking about this longer, more carefully, and with more expertise than the person across the table. You are not there to perform confidence. You are there to share what you know. That's a much easier job.
The reset
Take three slow breaths. Shoulders down. You're good at this.
You've been in harder rooms. You've handled worse surprises. You know how to read a room, adjust on the fly, and bring people with you. Go in. Do your thing. Come out.
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this
Before the spiral
“Not working” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
Define the problem before you try to solve it. Panic is not a strategy. Ask:
- What metric is actually underperforming, and against what benchmark?
- Is it reach (not enough people seeing it) or conversion (seeing it and not acting)?
- Is the creative tired, or was it never right?
- What does the audience data actually say vs what we assumed?
- Have we given it enough time, spend, and variation to know?
The diagnostic
You know how to troubleshoot this. Walk through it methodically.
Creative → Audience → Offer → Timing. That's the order of suspects. Start at creative — is it stopping the scroll? Then audience — are we talking to people who can actually come? Then offer — is the ticket price, venue, or artist right for this market? Then timing — are we in the right phase? One variable at a time.
The professional reframe
A campaign that's not working is a campaign that's teaching you something.
Every data point is useful. Every underperforming ad is telling you something about the audience or the message. You are not failing. You are iterating. That's the whole job.
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this
Stop. Just for a second.
You cannot think your way out of overwhelm by thinking harder about it.
Before you open another tab, send another message, or add another thing to the list — just stop. Breathe. You are one person running a business, doing an MBA, and caring deeply about the work. The list is always going to be long. That is not a crisis.
The triage
Everything feels urgent. Almost nothing actually is.
Three columns. Do this right now:
- What MUST happen today or something breaks?
- What is important but can wait until tomorrow?
- What is on the list purely out of anxiety, not necessity?
Grounding
Name five things you have already handled this week.
Not the things left to do. The things done. You have been competent and capable every single week you've been in business. This week is not the exception.
- What's one thing I'm genuinely proud of from the last month?
- Who in my life would tell me I'm doing better than I think?
- What would I tell a friend who came to me with this exact list?
You are kind, smart, and important.
You built something real. You know what you're doing.
Now go do it.
You've handled every hard thing that has come your way so far.
Your track record is 100%.
— In Cahoots Emergency Dept. · Est. whenever you needed this