What does it mean to be part of the Business against Poverty movement? Can membership make a tangible positive difference to your company, your team and your future?
In our latest member interview, we speak with Tom Vaughton, Managing Director of Varn, about why giving back matters and why business owners need to be kind to themselves during uncertain times.
Can you tell us a little about your business – who are you, where you’re based and what you do?
We are a specialist search marketing and analytics agency, based near Bath. From planning and managing full search engine marketing strategies to consultancy, SEO and PPC audits and training, at Varn we work with clients to help them deliver sustainable and profitable growth through their website and search marketing channels. We combine our experience and results in technical SEO, data analytics, paid search marketing and content marketing with website design, usability and development into results-driven and KPI led strategies.
What does Varn do best?
It’s simple: we make our clients’ websites perform better.
What does it mean to be part of the Business against Poverty movement? Can membership make a tangible positive difference to your company, your team and your future?
In our latest member interview, we speak with Tom Vaughton, Managing Director of Varn, about why giving back matters and why business owners need to be kind to themselves during uncertain times.
Can you tell us a little about your business – who are you, where you’re based and what you do?
We are a specialist search marketing and analytics agency, based near Bath. From planning and managing full search engine marketing strategies to consultancy, SEO and PPC audits and training, at Varn we work with clients to help them deliver sustainable and profitable growth through their website and search marketing channels. We combine our experience and results in technical SEO, data analytics, paid search marketing and content marketing with website design, usability and development into results-driven and KPI led strategies.
What does Varn do best?
It’s simple: we make our clients’ websites perform better.
What types of customers do you work with?
Our work is mainly B2B, Healthcare, Publishing or SME focused, but the rules of SEO are always the same so we are really quite open to working with most companies we can help: it may just depend on how we deliver our support. By that I mean that we may plan and run a client’s search marketing strategy but also work with their internal team as an extra resource, providing expert input or running training and mentoring programmes for internal client teams who want to upskill and manage the search marketing themselves.
How long have you been a Business against Poverty member, and why did you choose to join the movement?
Varn joined Business against Poverty in 2017. Business is about more than just making money for us: it’s about creating an environment that develops us as a team but also it’s about wealth creation for distribution. Like any company, we want to make a profit, but we also believe in reinvesting it in good causes and giving back, rather than just keeping it for ourselves.
What would you say are the biggest benefits of being part of this community?
The single biggest benefit for us is that we are helping other people with less money and support to build self-sustaining communities and businesses.
Would you recommend Business against Poverty membership?
Yes: all companies should give back and not rely on the state to do everything. I believe that we should treat other people how we want to be treated ourselves. Ask yourself: how would you want wealthier people to treat you if you just happened to be born in a more disadvantaged place and just needed an initial bit of extra support to get started?
Lastly, as a successful business owner, is there any advice that you’d give to other businesses right now?
Be humble with success: no one is as good as they think they are. And don’t be hard on yourself if your business is struggling; most people who are successful aren’t necessarily any cleverer or harder working than you, they may just have happened to been fortunate to start a business in a growing sector, or one not hit so hard by the impact of Covid.
Business against Poverty is an accredited membership community. Its members directly support the humanitarian work of People against Poverty – a registered, independent charity that aims to help alleviate poverty and suffering around the world. People against Poverty’s projects are designed to empower greater self-sufficiency, give new hope and build a more sustainable future. Join a movement for change today.
Interview conducted by Ben Veal, Founder of Second Mountain Comms and Trustee for People Against Poverty.
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