Marketing a surf biz used to be pretty simple.
Post a barrel or board shot. Answer the DMs. Reap in the bookings and purchases. Sit back and count your money while you rub your belly and smile smugly at your own success.
Not anymore.
In the last 18 months, Google started answering questions before anyone clicks, Instagram changed its scoreboard and a chunk of your future guests and buyers started asking ChatGPT where to surf.
Confusing? Heaps.
The good news? What works now is what small surf businesses have always been good at. Real people, real places, real products and real experience.
Doesn’t matter if you run a surf camp, shape boards in your garage, sell wax online or coach people to surf well and avoid drowning.
Here’s where things stand, split into online and physical.
Is the surf industry actually growing?
Yep. Although nobody agrees by how much.
- Surf travel:One report says the market will hit $10.79 billion in 2026. Another says it was worth USD 71.72 billion in 2025. A $60 billion disagreement. Market reports, am I right?
- Surf gear: The global surfing equipment market is forecast to grow 3.6% a year through 2031, with online sales and surfboards growing fastest
- Online surf retail: Online surf gear sales had a rough 2025, but benchmarking data points to a modest recovery in 2026
What they agree on is that the customer is changing:
- More variety: Surf retreats, wellness camps and female-focused surf travel brands have surged
- More newcomers: The customer base now reaches well beyond hardcore surfers to wellness seekers, families and millennials
- More wellness: About 55% of surf packages in 2024 included yoga or wellness add-ons
More beginners means more people buying their first board, first wetsuit and first coaching program. So more people want what you sell. Getting found is what trips my clients up.
Online marketing: What’s changed?
1. Google now answers the question before anyone clicks
- Google shows an AI Overview at the top of more than half of all searches. Heaps of people (including you and me) get their answer without clicking a result
- Smaller sites are getting hit hardest, according to Chartbeat’s March 2026 data
- Roughly 60% of searches starting with “who,” “what,” “when” or “why” trigger an AI summary
Translation: your “best time to surf Bali” or “what volume should my first board be” article is getting summarized above your link.
What still cuts through:
- First-hand knowledge: Which reef suits which level at which tide. How a rail shape actually feels on a slopey Portuguese beachie. The drill that finally fixed a client’s late pop-up, etc.
- Honest answers to real questions: The 11pm-before-they-book-or-buy ones
- A point of view: Generic surf content is exactly what AI replaces
I went deeper on this in Google just rewired Search.
Quick check: Compare organic traffic by landing page year on year. Pages that dropped are your casualties. Pages that held steady usually have content AI struggles to replicate. Write more of those.
2. AI assistants are the new front desk (and shop counter)
This is the one most surf businesses haven’t clocked yet.
BrightLocal’s 2026 survey found use of ChatGPT and generative AI for local recommendations jumped from 6% to 45% in a single year.
And it’s not just “beginner surf camp in Lombok with yoga”.
It’s “best mid-length for a heavier surfer” and “wetsuit for cold water that won’t wreck my shoulders” and “online surf coaching for adults”. The AI pulls from your website, product pages, Google Business Profile, reviews and socials. Make its job easy:
- Who you’re for: Levels, ages, body types, water temps
- What they get: Inclusions for trips, specs and volumes for boards, what’s in the program for coaching
- Where you are: Name the breaks you surf or the countries you ship to
- What it costs: Or at least a range in a few main currencies
Your About page, product descriptions and FAQs do heavy lifting here.
You can measure it too: Since May 13, 2026, GA4 automatically reports traffic from recognized AI assistants under a default channel called AI Assistant. Worth a squiz this week.
3. Instagram counts sends now, not likes
Instagram head Adam Mosseri has confirmed the three most important signals are watch time, sends per reach (DM shares) and likes per reach.
Think about how surf purchases actually happen. Someone sees a reel, sends it to their mate with “we should do this” or “you need this board” and the conversation starts. That’s what Instagram now rewards in a nutshell.
Content worth sending…
- Surf camps and retreats: Honest level guides (“Is this right for you if you’ve never stood up?”) and a real day at camp
- Shapers: A board going from blank to glassed and who it’s actually built for
- E-commerce brands: The gear in legit conditions, not just on a white background
- Coaches: Before and after footage and one-fix breakdowns
- Everyone: The stuff your customers would text their mates about
What kills your reach:
- Reposting other people’s barrels: Instagram now penalises aggregator accounts and often swaps in the original creator’s version
- Hashtag-dump captions: Instagram Search now reads the words inside your content, so write captions the way a customer would search
4. Reviews live everywhere now
- 41% of consumers always read reviews when choosing a business. That’s up from 29% the year before
- Consumers use an average of six review sites and Google’s share dropped from 83% to 71%
- 74% give more weight to reviews from the last three months
- 47% won’t use a business with fewer than 20 reviews
Those numbers come from local business research, but I would expand this lesson to any business.
From what I’ve discovered, a 4.9 rating from 2023 is a fading asset whether it’s on Google, your product pages or your coaching testimonials. A steady trickle of fresh reviews is worth way more.
5. Email is the only channel you own
Google can change its search page overnight. Instagram can tweak the algorithm on a Tuesday. Your email list doesn’t care.
What it does best:
- Surf tourism: Turns past guests into returning guests and lurkers into bookings eight months later
- E-commerce: Brings back abandoned carts and sells the new drop to people who already trust you
- Shapers: Announces custom order windows before they fill up
- Coaches: Fills the next program intake before you launch it publicly
- Everyone: Tells you what your crowd actually wants (here’s how to run simple surveys with it)
One good email a month beats a weekly one you hate writing.
6. Direct sales beat the middleman (when you can swing it)
Booking platforms, marketplaces and big retailers all have their place. But:
- Middlemen: Worth it for filling gaps and reaching new people
- Direct: Every direct booking or sale is a customer whose email you keep
- The fix: Make buying or booking direct as easy as the platforms do, then give people a reason to choose it
Physical marketing: What still works on the ground?
1. Your camp, shop, shaping bay or beach is a content studio
The best marketing asset you’ve got is where you work from. It’s irreplaceable in this sense.
Fold it into your content creation routine:
- Shoot a few clips every session, shaping day or product test
- Answer one customer question on camera each week
- Keep a shared folder that actually gets used
The businesses with the best content don’t have the best cameras. In fact, raw and original is better than presets and heavy edits these days. Get your habit rolling and you’ll be sweet. Just remember not to fall into the trap of posting for the sake of posting.
2. Word of mouth still wins (but it leaves a trail now)
Ask any surf business where their best customers come from.
“A mate recommended you”
That hasn’t changed. What has:
- The mate’s recommendation gets checked against your reviews
- Then your Instagram
- Then (increasingly) an AI summary
The in-person experience starts the recommendation. Your online presence has to close it.
3. The handover moment is pure gold
Every surf business has a moment when the customer is at peak stoke. The last day of a trip. Picking up a custom board. Unboxing a new wettie. Finally getting their first tube after working on it with their coach.
Most businesses let it slip past. Use it on purpose:
- Ask for the review right then: QR code straight to the right platform or a follow-up email the day after delivery
- Share their photos and footage: They’ll post while they’re still frothing
- Give them a reason to come back: A returning-guest rate, a loyalty discount or a next-level program (with a real expiry date)
4. Local standing is still marketing
Even if most of your sales happen online:
- Beach cleanups and junior programs
- Sponsoring the local comp
- Stocking or collaborating with local makers
5. Partnerships beat ad spend
Team up with businesses that share your customer:
- Surf camps and shops stocking your gear
- Shapers and coaches referring each other
- Yoga studios, cafes and physios
- Photographers and filmmakers
- Accommodation without a surf program
Events work the same way. A film night, a shaping demo, a demo day or a women’s surf morning gives people a reason to show up and a reason to post.
6. Print isn’t dead. It’s just specific
Generic flyer drops are cooked. Print in the right spot still works:
- QR codes on rental and demo boards
- Waiver forms that capture emails
- A map of local breaks in every room
- A card or sticker in every order or board bag
Each one is a bridge from the physical world back to something you own online.
So where do online and physical meet?
They’re not two strategies. They’re one loop:
- Physical → creates the stories, reviews and referrals
- Online → makes them findable (by people and AI)
- Email → turns them into repeat bookings and purchases
Marketing moved toward authenticity at the exact moment AI made generic content free. If you run a real surf biz with real people and real products, that’s epic news.
Your experience is the one thing nobody can copy. It’s also why your customer is the hero, not your brand.
FAQ
Q. Is SEO still worth it for surf businesses in 2026?
Yes, but the goal has changed. Generic articles are losing clicks to AI Overviews. Content built on first-hand knowledge still ranks and gets quoted by AI. Here’s how much of it you actually need.
Q. What’s the most important Instagram metric now?
Sends. Surf trips, boards and programs get sold between mates, so content worth sending to a mate is content worth making.
Q. How many reviews does a surf business need?
At least 20 to clear the trust bar. After that, freshness matters more than volume.
Q. Do online-only surf brands need physical marketing?
Yep. Packaging inserts, stockists, demo days and pop-ups all turn an online brand into something people can feel and talk about.
Q. Should I still sell through booking platforms, marketplaces or retailers?
Usually, yes. Use them to reach new people, but make buying direct just as easy so you keep the customer relationship.
Q. How do I know if ChatGPT is sending me customers?
Check the AI Assistant channel in GA4. And ask new customers how they found you. You’ll be surprised how often the answer is AI.
Need help figuring out which of this matters for your surf biz?
I’m here and I’m ready to go. Let’s have a yarn.