Driving Decisive Data – Dylan Watling’s 6 Month Impact

by Shannon Coutanche
4 min read
Frame 3

StrategiQ is the second agency I’ve worked with since uni and the one with the most comprehensive service offering. I enjoy being part of a diverse group of specialists with CX, brand, creative and video all being in-house in addition to the technical areas I’m more familiar with. The team and clients are great and I’ve learnt a lot in my first six months.

I’m currently based in the Ipswich office where we have the Airborne fitness gym next door. This facility has eliminated my excuses and enabled me to push my fitness further. Whilst I haven’t visited all of the StrategiQ offices yet, I really like having the option to work across the country. Beyond this, our partnership with AMIN (Global Agency Network) has exposed me to thinking from leaders across the globe. I’ve really enjoyed the weekly AMIN webinars, hearing perspectives from different agency specialists on a variety of topics.

When it comes to the day-to-day, getting stuck into new problems and data sets has been really enjoyable. My main highlights so far have involved solving problems through data consolidation, a great example of which is TraditionData. They wanted visibility of engagement of their top targeted investment companies. By consolidating data from Salesforce, GA4, LinkedIn and Lead Forensics I’ve been able to provide visibility of the different touchpoints each target company has, down to specific site interactions that inform our ongoing marketing strategy.

Fleximize’s application process also presented a great opportunity for data to drive real value. As loan providers to UK SMEs, Fleximize have lots of different criteria that each application has to meet before it’s deemed viable. Matching data between their internal reporting systems and GA4 has enabled us to see which marketing channels result in quality conversions and which have common criteria issues. It’s great that this data is now optimising the ROI of our marketing strategy, particularly in advertising. 

edjwql

I won’t pretend that there haven’t been some struggles along the way. From adapting to the Google tech stack, to persistent car engine issues, there’s been a lot to navigate in my first 6 months. That said, I’ve found that goal setting has been a great help. StrategiQ has a proprietary Operating System (OS) that not only supports client account management, but also each employee. It enables us to set weekly, quarterly and annual personal and professional goals, ensuring that we have measurable outcomes to work towards.

I couldn’t celebrate my 6 months at StrategiQ without mentioning my boss, Josh, who has been a great mentor from the outset. Teaching me lots on the platforms I’m not familiar with and supporting my development with monthly coaching sessions. He’s also been open to feedback on the different areas I have previous experience in, truly championing the #oneteam mentality. At Josh’s suggestion, we invested some of our training budget into Data Camp. A platform providing training on all things data in a fresh, gamified way. This has been invaluable in furthering my knowledge of R, JavaScript, Python and SQL. Which has and will continue to be beneficial in our move towards the cloud.

I’ve also learnt lots about myself in the last six months. The opportunity to do an insights assessment has been eye-opening, bringing a perspective that’s difficult to achieve through introspection alone. Being able to reference colleagues’ insights is also a game changer when it comes to developing strong working relationships. In addition, carrying out MOJO mapping has given me greater clarity on what ‘makes me tick’.

We have some really interesting internal and external projects coming up which I’m excited to be part of. Getting to grips with the increasing number of tools available is a great way to aid both my growth and benefit my clients. I’m looking forward to diving deep into data warehousing and getting my teeth stuck into Mintel more. I’m really grateful for the first 6 months at StrategiQ, here’s to the next 6!

Driving Decisive Data – Dylan Watling’s 6 Month Impact

We don’t want briefs.
We want problems.
That’s where the magic happens.

StrategiQ Full Awards List
2024
Dotdigital Partner Awards
Retail Service Partner of the Year
DevelopHER Awards
Inspiration Award
UK Dev Awards
Rising Star
UK Dev Awards
Fintech Website
UK Dev Awards
Third Sector Website
Campaign Best Places to Work
26/100
UK Dev Awards
Retail/Ecommerce Website
UK Company Culture Awards
Best HR Tool
Sunday Times' 100 Best Places to Work
Small Organisations Category
2023
DevelopHER Awards
Digital Marketer of the Year
UK Dev Awards
Best Third Sector Website
UK Dev Awards
UX Award for StrategiQ
UK Paid Media Awards
Best Use of Linkedin Ads
UK Paid Media Awards
Paid Media Agency Led Campaign Of The Year
European Paid Media Awards
Best Use of Linkedin Ads
UK Agency Awards
Best Culture Transformation Initiative
UK Search Awards
Best Use of Search (Travel)
Social Media Awards
Best Use of Instagram
Social Media Awards
Best Use of Linkedin
Social Media Awards
Best Audience Engagement Campaign
DevelopHER Awards
Emerging Talent
UK Search Awards
Best Use of Search
2022
Dotties Awards
Marketer of the Year
Elite Agency
Campaign Best Places to Work
Winner Top 50
UK Dev Awards
Project of the Year
UK Dev Awards
Travel Website of the Year
UK Dev Awards
Best Site Migration
UK Dev Awards
B2B Website of the Year
UK Paid Media Awards
Local Campaign of the Year
UK Paid Media Awards
Best Use of Attribution
UK Search Awards
Best Local Campaign (PPC) (LARGE)
UK Search Awards
Travel / Leisure (PPC) (LARGE)
UK Search Awards
Retail / Ecommerce (SEO) (LARGE)
The Drum Awards
Best Business Development Initiative
2021
UK Dev Awards
Best Migration
Campaign Best Places to Work
Winner Top 50
UK Agency Awards
Covid Response (Silver)
UK Agency Awards
Campaign Effectiveness Award (Silver)
UK Search Awards
Best Use of Search Third Sector (Silver)
UK Search Awards
Best Use of Content Marketing (Silver)
UK Search Awards
Best Large SEO Campaign
2020
Campaign Best Places to Work
Winner Top 50
Suffolk Business Awards
Business of the Year
Suffolk Business Awards
Small & Medium Business of the Year
2019
DXA Awards
Best PPC Strategy with Powertool World
Suffolk Business Awards
Best Employer
2018
Best Employers Eastern Region
Best Digital & Technology Business
UK Search Awards
Best Small Integrated Search Agency
2016
EADT Business Awards
One To Watch Award
Read
Play
Hover