Surfer turned entrepreneur Lac Campbell has made his mark on surf tourism businesses and surf brands across the globe by offering owners expert copywriting and website content that helps them rank on google and draw in more customers.
His Company, ‘The Surfing Copywriter,’ tackles websites, blog articles, press releases, scripts, and newsletters. His unique voice combines with industry knowledge of what makes content stand out to help surf businesses big and small establish their online presence.
The Surfing Copywriter has built up an impressive portfolio of testimonials and results after Lac took the leap and focused on writing for surfing first. Lac is a lifelong surfer who branched out on his own to turn his passion into words.
Lac connected with the Surfpreneurs club and gave us a quick rundown of the high and low tides of a freelancing career within the surfing industry.
Surfers often describe an ‘aha’ moment when everything clicks in the water, and they knew this is what they were made to do. Have you felt a similar ‘aha’ moment while developing TSC?
I have more “oh shit” moments than “a-ha” moments in the water, but for sure, the actual TSC brand felt validated when I landed my first major client.
They were (and still are) an international surf camp provider with locations in Indo, Central America, and Europe, and this moment came off the back of months of hard work contacting different surf camps, schools, and hostels worldwide to pitch my services.
This win was extra satisfying, since I’m not a massive fan of cold emailing, and I don’t like talking myself up. But seeing how that initial hard work has paid off makes me feel super proud that I went out of my comfort zone in the first place.
What motivated you to branch out into a surf copywriting niche?
my motivation came from a conversation that I had with a friend in late 2017.
She owns a surf camp in Byron Bay, and she was telling me how frustrating it was to lose bookings to competitors when she believed she had better gear, better lodging, and a longer history in the local area.
She then told me who her two main competitors were, and when I did some digging, I discovered that they were definitely inferior in terms of what they offered. But what they did do well was relentlessly push their services and experiences via blog and social media posts, which my mate didn’t do at all.
I offered to do some work for her in the form of rewriting her website, providing some article title recommendations, and giving her a bit of a content structure to follow.
Half a year later, her website had gone from page 4 to page 1 on Google, giving her more exposure and competing with some of the more prominent providers in the area.
Looking back, this was the experience that made me realise that the idea to provide copywriting services to surf tourism business operators had legs.
How will surf businesses benefit from your services?
Surf businesses will see more consistent growth by using my services, whether they be surf tourism business, surfwear brands, or surf tech companies.
This then translates into less worrying about how your bookings will look next season or whether your product will perform because you’ve already put the necessary steps in place to attract, engage and inspire customers or guests to act.
It also translates into a feeling of confidence. With a content marketing plan in place, you can begin to improve other aspects of your business, whether it be finally refurbishing your surf camp premises, retraining some of the staff at your surf school, or even working on developing an entirely new surf-related product.
Can you walk us through your creative process?
I’m actually not all that creative, to be honest (unless it comes to the creative ways in which I justify the purchase of a new surfboard to my wife).
Most of my process involves talking with the client, figuring out what’s going well for them and what needs improvement, then doing a lot of work behind the scenes.
Creative writing is really the final flourish at the end of a pretty long research process, although I have dabbled in writing what you might call creative articles before, penning a couple of pieces for online surf magazines such as Surf’’D, The Intertia and Tracks magazine.
What’s been your favorite part of working with all these surf tourism businesses?
Probably seeing how my services can help surf tourism, surfwear, and surf tech business owners get stoked about running their business.
It’s a big task asking one or two people to manage everything from staff to bookings and product launches. And most clients seem frustrated and uncertain, or they have this pervasive feeling of “being lost” as to what they should be doing to attract and retain new guests.
It’s satisfying to know that I’m able to help out in this regard. And I still feel just as stoked after helping a client who I may not know all that well as I first did when I helped my mate all those years ago.
Of course, I should also mention some other pretty awesome perks, such as free gear and free accommodation. But that’s more of a bonus than anything else.
What is something you wish you had known about this industry when you first started out?
There’s not really anything significant about the surf industry that’s surprised me, but as far as being a freelancer goes, that’s been a big learning curve.
I’ve been doing it for half a decade now, and I can honestly say it’s definitely more taxing than when I worked in an office. These days I’m in a pretty good place. I have my routine, and I have my mentors who keep me accountable. Needless to say, I’m thrilled with how things are going.
Where do you hope to take TSC next?
Forwards 😉
Where are you taking your next surf holiday?
My next dedicated surf trip in Europe will be to Galicia, but as far as international travel goes, I’m hoping I can get back into Australia next year for a southern hemisphere autumn and winter.
Between now and then, though, I’ll try to keep things as local as possible. Fortunately, there are heaps of good waves in Portugal and Spain, so I don’t need to go far to score.
You can follow The Surfing Copywriter on IG: @thesurfingcopywriter
Or reach out directly to his website: Thesurfingcopywriter.com
Interviewed by Kenan Dudley
Surfing found Kenan while he was living in a van with two friends, and he’s been chasing swells around the world every minute since. Between Sets, Kenan is teaching, writing, and letting his passions run his life. 〰 Kenan is collaborating with Surfpreneurs Club to connect and learn with the surfing community.
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