Zoe Adkins first joined ClickThrough as a Web Design Apprentice. She has since worked in multiple channels and become one of our Client Directors. Learn more about Zoe's time with ClickThrough.

ZOE ADKINS: MY CLICKTHROUGH GROWTH STORY - FROM WEB DESIGN APPRENTICE TO CLIENT DIRECTOR

Zoe Adkins is one of ClickThrough’s Client Directors. Zoe joined us as an apprentice in the Web Development team in 2014 and, since then, has worked in the web, SEO, and Client teams. Zoe’s natural ability to talk to clients and project management skills were noticed shortly after she joined ClickThrough and, as a result, have seen her excel in client facing roles.

Time with ClickThrough: 7 years, 4 months

Joined As: Web Developer (Apprentice)

Current Role: Client Director

Total Roles at ClickThrough: 5

What ClickThrough Saw in Me

I joined ClickThrough without any previous experience in marketing – I’d left school and was working as a sales assistant. I knew I wanted to find a role that suited my skills, and I was interested in doing something to do with the web so, when I was looking at apprenticeships, my provider pointed me towards ClickThrough. I came into the office and had a chat with Al Rowe, who’s still here today, and it was quickly clear that the company seemed a good fit for me!

My apprenticeship was officially in social media, but my first role at ClickThrough was a Web Developer on the web dev team. It became clear pretty early on that something I was really good at was talking to clients, so I naturally started to pick up the account & project management tasks in my team. These weren’t strictly part of my role, but ClickThrough recognised what I was good at and my technical knowledge really helped me answer our clients’ questions. My progression to being a Web Development Account Manager felt very natural for everyone.

As an Account Manager, I became interested in the full picture of what we were doing for our clients and showed a lot of enthusiasm for what other departments, such as SEO and DPM, were doing. When a Senior SEO Account Manager role came up, I wasn’t sure about making the change to a new department but my colleagues encouraged me to go for it. I still had an interview process to go through, but I was offered the Senior Account Manager role and ended up using my skills in a new department!

Since March 2020 I’ve been working on a broad client management basis, first as a Senior Client Manager and now as a Client Director. I don’t specialise in any departments any more, but my past technical knowledge still serves me well, and I love looking after clients and working with all of our teams to get the results they’re excited for.

Support

I’ve been lucky that I have been able to move between departments without losing any seniority. One of the reasons I’ve been able to do this is how well ClickThrough supported me in through each role move.

ClickThrough are good at identifying skills gaps, acting on them and providing training for what we need to grow. I had a good opportunity to shadow people within my new departments and ask all the questions I needed before taking on the role fully. I just wouldn’t have had this opportunity if I had moved to a new company to progress, and it was nice for clients too as they had an early introduction to me as I gradually became more of a face in their meetings.

Working in different departments has made me a great client director as I have the technical knowledge to answer questions and give realistic insights into the teams’ processes. When I was working as an SEO Account Manager, my knowledge in web development helped build a bigger picture of what was happening in the account. Now, as a Client Director, I have technical knowledge from two different departments that helps me talk to clients, find out what they need, and get our own teams’ messages across well.

Why I’ve done well (and what’s coming next!)

I think I’ve done well at ClickThrough as I’ve always been eager to learn, enjoy spending time with people, and I’m not phased by taking on new challenges in order to grow. Respect and compassion are both important qualities to have here, whether that’s directed towards your clients or colleagues – we’re very good at fostering an environment that people are comfortable being challenged in and can learn new things, but that comes from being supportive as colleagues & a business.

What’s coming next for me? Well I’m looking forward to specialising in how we improve the depth at how look at business strategies. This has been discussed a lot recently, along with our new Digital Transformation service offering, and I’m excited to start taking clients on that journey.

I’m excited for the future at ClickThrough as the clearer progression plans coming into play will benefit everyone here. Having said that, there’s always been an element of being in charge of your own destiny within the agency as, if there’s something you’d like to do, you can talk to your line manager and make it happen.

Find out how Zoe and our Client Success team can help nurture your brand's growth.