About Dean Yates

Dean Yates – Managing Director, RTN Digital

Dean Yates is the founder and Managing Director of RTN Digital, a specialist PPC agency based in Middlesbrough that’s on a mission to become the UK’s leading PPC specialists. He launched RTN in August 2023, determined to give growth-minded brands enterprise-level strategy with radical transparency and automation-driven efficiency. 

Before striking out on his own, Dean spent nearly a decade at an independent award-winning agency, rising to Technology Director. Launched the UK's first agency-led CSS platform and scaled to >300 clients. He also built the agency’s R&D “engine room”, created proprietary feed-optimisation and reporting tools, and helped the team earn Google Premier Partner status while the headcount tripled. 

An engineer at heart, Dean began writing AdWords scripts back in 2016 and has been championing data-led process hygiene ever since. Today he still enjoys the odd bit of code, but spends most of his time architecting high-impact Google and Microsoft Ads strategies and mentoring RTN’s fast-growing team of performance marketers. 

Dean shares hands-on PPC insights through LinkedIn posts and detailed case studies, and is a familiar face at regional business and university events where technology and marketing intersect. When he’s not poring over dashboards you’ll find him hiking the North York Moors, volunteering with the local mountain rescue team or visiting English Heritage sites with his family. A proud Teessider, he believes the North-East’s blend of grit and creativity is the perfect launch-pad for helping British businesses punch above their weight online.