We’ve Relaunched Wilkes Wood

After many months of work behind the scenes, it feels slightly surreal to write that.

This is not just about launching a shiny new website, although, to be fair, it is particularly shiny and new.

It is about what the site represents.

Over the past year, we have been rebuilding a lot of Wilkes Wood from the ground up: our services, our processes, our positioning, the way we deliver projects and the kind of work we want to keep doing.

In many ways, this new website is the public-facing version of a much bigger internal shift.

Where It Started

In 2018, James and I started building something together.

At the time, the work looked very different. We were building simple Squarespace websites for small local businesses, helping with bits of graphic design, and learning a huge amount with every project that came through the door.

We were small, inexperienced in many ways, and figuring things out as we went.

But one thing was clear from the start: we cared deeply about the work and the people we were doing it for.

James once described the level of service we were trying to provide as “unsustainably good”.

That phrase has stuck with us ever since.

The idea was simple: go above and beyond wherever possible. Reply properly. Think carefully. Care about the details. Do more than expected. Build a reputation by making sure clients felt genuinely looked after.

In hindsight, that probably was not the most efficient way to run a business.

But it was the right way to build trust.

And while a lot has changed since then, that philosophy is still at the heart of Wilkes Wood.

What Has Changed

All these years later, the work looks very different.

We have moved from simple website builds into fully custom headless websites, with more flexible content systems, structured databases, member areas, custom functionality and stronger foundations for long-term growth.

We have developed a visual identity service that has now been used by some incredibly exciting businesses and organisations.

Growth Marketing has become a core part of what we do, bringing together SEO, content, paid campaigns, analytics and strategy to help clients improve what happens after a website goes live.

And perhaps most importantly, we have reached a point where we know exactly what we do, exactly who we want to work with, and the kind of work we want to keep building.

That clarity has taken years to earn.

It has come through trial and error, through projects that stretched us, through mistakes we learned from, and through clients who trusted us with their businesses, brands, websites and marketing.

The Biggest Shift

The biggest shift has been in our web work.

James has worked tirelessly to push what we offer into a completely new place.

I cannot overstate how proud I am of him.

Our websites are now more considered, more flexible and more technically ambitious than anything we could have imagined building when we started. The move towards fully custom headless builds has transformed what we can offer clients, but more importantly, it has transformed the way we think about websites.

Growth Marketing Becomes a Core Service

I am also very excited that Tom is stepping into the role of Growth Lead.

Tom has been involved with Wilkes Wood for a long time, and this next step feels like a natural evolution of the work he has already been doing.

His role is focused on helping drive growth for Wilkes Wood and for the clients we work with.

That means SEO, content, paid campaigns, reporting and strategy, but more importantly, it means helping clients understand where the biggest opportunities are and how to act on them.

Turns out, he is very, very good at it.

Having Growth Marketing as a core service changes the way we can support clients beyond launch. The website can now sit as part of a wider plan, rather than being treated as the finish line.

That matters.

Because a strong website is only part of the picture. It needs the right people coming to it, the right message supporting it, and the right data helping us understand what to improve next.

Strategy Comes First

More than anything, everything we do now starts with strategy.

Where is the business now?

Where does it want to be?

What needs to change to help it get there?

That thinking now runs through all our work, whether we are building a website, shaping a visual identity or supporting a long-term growth marketing plan.

We are not interested in making things look good in isolation.

We want the work to make sense around the business behind it: the audience, the offer, the goals, the challenges and the opportunities.

The identity people recognise.

The website they explore.

The marketing that brings them there.

The value we provide is in making those pieces work together.

Still Wilkes Wood

For all the change, the heart of Wilkes Wood feels the same.

We are still a small team by design.

We still care about long-term relationships.

We still want clients to feel like the people working on their project actually understand it.

And we still believe in doing the work properly.

The difference is that we have now built systems, processes and services that make that level of care more sustainable, more efficient and more strategically delivered.

That has been one of the biggest lessons of the past year.

“Unsustainably good” can only take you so far if everything depends on effort alone.

The goal now is to keep that same care, but support it with better structure.

Clearer processes.

Better project planning.

Stronger technical foundations.

More joined-up services.

More useful reporting.

More intentional growth.

That is what this relaunch represents.

Thank You

A huge thank you to James and Tom for everything that has gone into shaping this next version of Wilkes Wood.

This has been the most transformational year in our business life, and I am incredibly proud of what we have built together.

Thank you also to every client, past and present, who has trusted us with their business, brand, website or marketing over the years.

We would not be here without you and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.

We are now in the strongest position we have ever been in to do what we have always wanted to do: help small businesses achieve bigger things.