A former IT manager whose ideas made his franchise network three times as profitable has won a coveted industry award.

Activ Digital Marketing's Kingston upon Thames franchisee Mark Rouvray is the recipient of a Great British Franchisee Award, an achievement of recognition for outstanding performance in all areas of his business.

On receiving the award, Mark commented "It is great to be recognised for all the effort and achievement over nearly 15 years of running the franchise. I'm grateful to all my clients who have trusted me to market their businesses for them."

Part of activ Marketing Group, Mark's digital marketing branch is an online marketing company which forge long-term relationships with clients to ensure their success in growing a strong client base.

"If we could have another 10 Marks in our network, that would be fantastic!" says Managing Director Katie Bullon.

"His client retention is outstanding – some have been with him for more than a decade – and he pioneered a new pricing model which he helped implement across the network for the benefit of all the other franchisees."

Mark, who gained a distinction in his IT Management MBA, amassed systems and process experience over a quarter of a century with British Gas and British Airways, before he switched careers.

"The main business at that time was web design," he recalls. "I had little experience of that or marketing when I joined in 2008, but I now have the largest number of SEO clients in the network."

He bought his first territory in South West London and Surrey, including Wimbledon and Kingston, and expanded that a few years later to cover Worcester Park and Morden.

"I introduced pay-per-click and social media management even before it was fully supported by the franchise," he says, "but the most important change was a move away from annual charges to a monthly pricing model. 

"That introduced a lower upfront fee but with a monthly charge and was later adopted by other franchisees until it became the norm.  

"It increased profitability to up to three times the previous pricing model and generated a regular retained income over the year which was essential in getting through the pandemic.  

"And as I developed new functionality for clients over the years, I ensured it was adopted into the standard software available for all franchisees.

The Great British Franchisee Awards are run by whichfranchise, supported by Lloyds Bank, BDO, Worldpay from FIS, AMO Consulting and Chantry Group. https://www.whichfranchise.com/awards/