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For surfboard shops

The post-COVID boom is still surfing in. Get on the wave.

In-House is your AI marketing team. It actually moves the rack: ships your shape and board-type pages, runs the 'surf shop [suburb]' ads, posts the new shapes and the dawn-patrol fittings.

No charge for 7 days Cancel in two taps Live in 9 minutes

Three options. Only one actually works for your business.

Agency
$2,500 to $4,000 / mo
Slow. Expensive. Removed from your business.
You get a moody site refresh, a quarterly Instagram report, and a contact who has never paddled out. Meanwhile Hyper Boards owns 'Channel Islands [suburb]', Jack's Surfboards eats the Lost and DHD search, and the local surf school keeps sending the post-lesson grom to whichever shop bothered to keep a soft-top in stock for under $400.
DIY tools
$120 to $250 / mo + your evenings
Cheap, but it just hands you a dashboard.
Shopify, Klaviyo, Later, Canva, an Instagram account you post to when you remember. Cheap, but you photograph the new shape arrivals at dusk after the shop shuts, write the 'shortboard vs fish vs hybrid' guide between ding repairs, and never quite ship the custom-shaper landing page that would pull every commission inquiry in the suburb.
ACTUALLY DOES IT
In-House
$299 / mo flat
Cheap, and it actually does the work.
The AI marketing team writes the captions, ships a page for every board type and brand you stock, runs Google Ads on 'surfboard shop [suburb]' and 'Channel Islands [suburb]', and posts the new shapes and ding repairs from your phone. You take one rack photo per arrival, approve the week, get back to the shape bay.

The boom brought 200,000 new surfers. The chains are quietly selling them all.

The reality

An independent surfboard shop is fighting on a battlefield that changed twice in the last six years. Post-COVID surfing went from a niche to a 200,000-new-participants-a-year category, which sounds great until you realise most of that volume is being captured by three players: Hyper Boards and Jack's Surfboards owning the 'surf shop [city]' search with national stock and aggressive Google Ads, Drift Surf and the BoardCave directory eating the long tail with one generic page per board type, and Surf Stitch and The Iconic taking the soft-top beginner sale online with free returns. Meanwhile the local-shaper-vs-import dichotomy is hotter than it's been in a decade: the post-COVID grom wants a Channel Islands or a JS Industries off the rack today, the experienced surfer wants a custom shape from the local shaper but doesn't know where to commission it, and the shop in the middle that stocks both is the one with the best margin and the worst SEO. The independents that win don't fight the broad 'surfboard' search; that's where Hyper Boards and BoardCave own the auction. The wins are in the shape and brand long tail ('Channel Islands [suburb]', 'JS Industries [suburb]', 'mid-length surfboard [suburb]', 'custom shape [suburb]'), the surf-school cross-referral, and the ding-repair-and-wetsuit recurring service that turns a one-board buyer into a five-year customer.

What good looks like

Good surfboard shop marketing is three things, in this order: a shape and brand page library that ranks for the long-tail searches the chains and directories overlook ('Channel Islands [suburb]', 'JS Industries [suburb]', 'Lost Driver 2.0 [suburb]', 'mid-length surfboard [suburb]', 'custom shape [suburb]', 'second-hand surfboard [suburb]'), with proper specs on every page (litres, dimensions, fin setup, suitable conditions, shaper if it's custom); a surf-school and learn-to-surf cross-referral beat that ships a printable starter-board offer to every surf school in a 30km radius (a soft-top plus leash plus rashie bundle pitched as the post-lesson sale-through); and a ding-repair-and-wetsuit recurring service page that turns every board sold into a four-times-a-year service visit. Add a second-hand consignment page that runs continuously for the budget grom who books a $400 used board but turns into a $1,400 custom-shape customer in 18 months and you've covered every funnel the chains skip.

The boom is real, the chains are taking it
200,000 new Australian surfers since 2020. Hyper Boards and Jack's Surfboards are converting them with national ad spend and a Channel Islands rack the locals can't match. The independent that's not running suburb-and-brand pages is invisible on every Google search the new grom makes.
Local shaper is the moat the chains can't replicate
The experienced surfer wants a custom from someone who knows the local break. The chains don't stock custom-shape commissions, the directories don't list shapers, and most local shops bury the shaper relationship two clicks deep. A dedicated custom-shape page with the shaper's bio and turnaround time is a high-margin pipe the imports can't touch.
Surf schools send 300 groms a year. Nobody asks for them.
Every surf school in the postcode finishes a beginner lesson with a fresh surfer asking 'where should I buy my first board?' The school will recommend whoever they trust. Most shops never build the relationship and the Hyper Boards in-store rack collects the sale.

Real work. Not a slide deck.

In-House publishes to your real accounts and your live site. Here is what a surfboard shop sees in the first weeks, in the actual format it lands in.

Web Agent
Live · yourbusiness.com.au/channel-islands-stockist/burleigh-heads
yourbusiness.com.au/channel-islands-stockist/burleigh-heads

New brand + suburb landing page: 'Channel Islands stockist in Burleigh Heads, full Britt Merrick range in stock' headline, the CI Happy, CI Fever, CI Two Happy, CI Mid models with litres, dimensions and fin setup side-by-side, suggested conditions for Burleigh point and bank surf, three rack photos with the new arrivals, a 'try before you buy' demo board offer, ding-repair and wetsuit cross-sell callouts, and SurfShop schema. Indexed in 48 hours, ranking page 1 for 'channel islands burleigh' inside a fortnight.

One page per brand / shape / suburb
Advertising Agent
Live · Google Ads · brand long tail
Ad · yourbusiness.com.au
Channel Islands · Burleigh Heads · Full Range in Store

Britt Merrick's full range, CI Happy through CI Mid, all litres stocked. Try before you buy on the demo. Free ding-cover check. Independent shop, owner shapes the local custom orders. Ten minutes from the point. Click to call or come down.

Long-tail brand queries, broad 'surfboards' excluded
Social Media Agent
Scheduled · Tue 5:45am · Instagram + Facebook
Your photo
Caption from this morning's dawn-patrol board collection

"Brad picked up his new JS Monsta 8 this morning at 5:45am on his way to the bank out front (yes, he opened the gate from his car window, no, we don't make a habit of it). 6'1" x 19.5 x 2.62, 31.4L, classic JS shortboard with the swallow tail. Set up with FCS II Mick Fanning Tri fins, leash on, walked it down. He'll be in tonight to tell us how it went. This is exactly why we keep the boards waxed and ready to go." Drafted from the rack photo you took at dawn. You approve, it posts.

Pre-surf collection stories build the local cred
SEO Agent
Auto-applied · approval rules
Google Business Profile update
Services list expanded from 4 → 22 (custom surfboard shaping, shortboard, longboard, mid-length, fish, hybrid, SUP, ding repair, wetsuit fitting, soft-top hire, second-hand consignment, board rental, demo board, surf-school starter pack, +8 more), 'made on premises' attribute added, primary category corrected from 'Sporting Goods Store' to 'Surf Shop', stocked brands posted (Channel Islands, JS Industries, Lost, DHD, Pyzel, Webber, Bay Bayfish, NSP, Rip Curl, Quiksilver, Patagonia).
Live in your profile within the hour
$299 / mo
Flat. No tiers, no markup.
9 min
From sign-up to live marketing.
60+
Pieces of content a month.
0
Contracts. Cancel any time.

Six agents, working in your accounts.

Account Lead, Web, SEO, Advertising, Social Media, and Content. One platform, one bill, you approve the work.

Account Lead

Builds your annual plan around the niches that pay (premium brand stockist, custom local shapes, surf-school cross-referrals, ding repair as a recurring service), not the broad 'surfboard' search the chains own. Briefs the other agents so the website, the Google Ads, the social cadence and the surf-school outreach all push toward the customer the chains can't sell to.

Answers: local shaper is the moat the chains can't replicate
Web Agent

Imports your existing site so you stop paying for the agency hosting bill plus a CMS subscription, and ships a brand page for every line you stock (Channel Islands, JS Industries, Lost, DHD, Pyzel, Webber, Bay Bayfish), a shape page for every board type (shortboard, longboard, mid-length, fish, hybrid, SUP), a dedicated custom-shape commission page with your local shaper's bio, a ding-repair service page, and a second-hand consignment listing that updates from your phone.

Answers: local shaper is the moat the chains can't replicate
SEO Agent

Goes through your live site for the things that actually move surf-shop rankings: brand-and-suburb optimisation on every brand page, SurfShop schema (not generic sporting goods), stocked-brand posts on the Google Business Profile, primary category corrected so you stop showing up as a generic 'Sporting Goods Store'. Auto-applies the low-risk fixes.

Answers: the boom is real, the chains are taking it
Advertising Agent

Launches Google Ads on the long-tail brand and shape queries Hyper Boards and Jack's Surfboards overpay on the broad terms and ignore ('Channel Islands [suburb]', 'JS Industries [suburb]', 'mid-length surfboard [suburb]', 'custom shape [suburb]'). Excludes the broad 'surfboards' auction that bleeds budget. Runs a Meta layer for the post-COVID beginner with a soft-top starter offer. Pauses spend when the rack is light.

Answers: the boom is real, the chains are taking it
Social Media Agent

Turns the rack, the shape bay and the dawn-patrol collections into a weekly stream of posts in your real accounts: new board arrivals, custom-shape progress shots, ding-repair before-and-afters, wetsuit fittings, dawn-patrol board pickups, post-surf debriefs. Builds the 'real surfer, real shop, real shaper' signal the chain Instagram never will. You take one rack photo per arrival, the agent drafts the caption in your voice, you approve.

Answers: surf schools send 300 groms a year. nobody asks for them.
Content Agent

Drafts the long-form pieces customers Google before they buy: 'shortboard vs fish vs hybrid: which first', 'how to buy your first surfboard after lessons', 'when does it make sense to commission a custom shape', 'how often should I replace my wetsuit'. Two drafts a month, in your voice, that pull in the post-COVID surfer weeks before they walk in.

Live in your accounts, fast.

The heavy lifting comes off your plate the day you sign up. Here is what you see by the end of week one.

  • 9-minute onboarding wizard, then your agents go live in your real accounts.
  • Your existing site imported. Hosting and CMS bills cancelled by Friday of week 1.
  • Brand pages for your six top-selling lines (Channel Islands, JS Industries, Lost, DHD, Pyzel, Webber) drafted and indexed by day 7.
  • Google Ads ready to launch on 'surf shop [suburb]' and brand long-tail by day 10.
  • Google Business Profile flipped from 'Sporting Goods Store' to 'Surf Shop' with stocked brands listed by day 3.
  • Every approval from your phone behind the counter, two taps, no calls, no meetings.
See pricing No charge for 7 days Cancel in two taps Live in 9 minutes

Your first 30 days.

  • Site imported, hosting and CMS bills killed
  • Annual plan around brand stockist, custom shape, surf-school cross-referral delivered by Sam
  • Google Business Profile recategorised as Surf Shop with stocked brands posted
  • Brand pages indexed for Channel Islands, JS Industries, Lost, DHD, Pyzel, Webber
  • Custom-shape commission page live with the local shaper's bio and turnaround
  • Google Ads live on long-tail brand and shape queries, broad 'surfboards' excluded
  • First fortnight of rack and dawn-patrol captions queued in your voice
  • Surf-school starter-pack offer printed and posted to every learn-to-surf school in a 30km radius
The bottom line

An independent surf shop that fights Hyper Boards on 'surfboards near me' loses every time. An independent that owns the brand long tail (Channel Islands, JS, Lost, DHD, Pyzel), pitches the custom local shape, runs the ding-repair-and-wetsuit recurring service, and cross-refers with the local surf schools runs at the margin that justifies a shape bay out back and a Britt Merrick demo board on the rack. The only thing standing between you and that book is whether the post-COVID grom Googling 'Channel Islands [suburb]' finds your page.

Agencies are too dear to actually run the brand-page library, the surf-school outreach and the long-tail ad set for $3.5k a month. Tools are cheap but you photograph the rack at dusk and the custom-shape page never gets written. In-House is the third option: for $299 a month the agents ship the pages, launch the ads, post the rack and the dawn patrol, and keep your Google Business profile beating the chains on the queries that actually convert. You stay in the driver's seat, two taps to approve, minutes a day. Stop watching the grom from the surf school walk into Hyper Boards instead of yours.

See everything In-House does
No charge for 7 days Cancel in two taps Live in 9 minutes

Frequently asked.

Can a $299/mo platform really compete with Hyper Boards and Jack's Surfboards?
Not on the broad 'surfboards' or 'surf shop' searches, no. Those chains have national ad budgets and locked map-pack positions in every surf-town postcode. What works is going around them: the long-tail brand queries ('Channel Islands [suburb]', 'JS Industries [suburb]', 'Lost Driver 2.0 [suburb]'), the shape queries ('mid-length surfboard [suburb]', 'fish surfboard [suburb]'), the custom-shape queries (which the chains don't service at all), and the second-hand and ding-repair queries. Independents with a proper brand-page library routinely outrank the chains on those terms because the chains run one generic landing page for everything.
How do I actually get more custom-shape commissions?
Most shops bury the shaper relationship two clicks deep and never pitch the custom outside the in-store conversation. The Web Agent ships a dedicated custom-shape commission page with your local shaper's bio, the turnaround time, the deposit and final-payment structure, the past-shape gallery, and a 'tell us what you ride' enquiry form. The Advertising Agent runs a tight 'custom surfboard shape [suburb]' campaign aimed at the experienced surfer. The Social Media Agent runs the shape-bay progress shots that turn the shape pipeline into the highest-engagement content in your grid. Most shops triple their custom orders inside six months because the demand was always there, it just wasn't being asked for.
What about the surf-school referral? Does it actually work?
Every surf school in your postcode finishes lessons with a fresh surfer asking 'where should I buy my first board?' Most shops never make it easy for the school to refer. The Account Lead briefs an outreach beat: a printable starter-board offer (a soft-top plus leash plus rashie bundle at a school-only price), posted to every learn-to-surf school in a 30km radius, with a follow-up email and a quarterly check-in. Schools will recommend whoever makes it easy and friendly. Done properly the cross-referral becomes the dominant beginner-board pipe in the postcode.
Will the captions sound like AI?
They will sound like you, because the Social Media Agent learns from your existing posts during onboarding and you approve every draft before it ships. You take one photo per moment (the rack arrival, the shape bay, the dawn-patrol collection, the ding-repair reveal), the agent drafts the caption from what's in the photo (the brand, the model, the litres, the customer story, the local break), you approve in two taps.
I'm a one-man shop, I shape three custom orders a week, I'm running the till. How does the approve-the-week bit work?
Two taps on your phone behind the counter, usually between customers. You see what the agents drafted (a brand page, four social posts, two ad changes), tap approve or tweak, done. The whole week's queue takes about ten minutes. Anything urgent (an ad pause, a bad review needing a response) sends a notification.
Can I cancel if it isn't working?
Two taps, any time, no exit fees and no notice period. You keep your imported site, your brand pages, the Google Business Profile work, the custom-shape page, the surf-school outreach card, and the social grid. There is no $3.5k-a-month agency lock-in and there is no six-month minimum.

Bring your marketing in-house this week.

Six agents planning, publishing and optimising your social, SEO, ads and web, full-time on your business. $299/month. No contract.

Contact us
Card on file · No charge for 7 days · Cancel anytime