Learn how to surf from a digital product

Husband and wife team Martin and Annika produce the 110% Surfing Techniques videos, which have sold thousands of copies worldwide over the last five years. They also run Discovery Surf School in Devon. In this interview they talk us through making the move into digital products, selling from their own website, and how they produce their brilliant videos.

George: Okay, so you started out with a bricks and mortar business – a surf school?

Martin: Yeah. We've had Discovery Surf School for twelve years so that's where it all started. We developed our instructional techniques and then put them into video format, so that we reach people across the world. We started with DVDs six years ago when they were still really popular. Then we started doing digital versions last year, in November, and it has given the videos a really good lease of life. People can download them anywhere now, so it's really cool.

George: That's one of the great things about the Internet, you suddenly go from being a local business to a global business with a real speciality.

Martin: Oh, yeah. It's really crazy all the places the videos go. You expect a lot of sales from America, Australia and Brazil. There's lots of surfers there. But videos also go to South Korea, Taiwan, all through Europe, Guadalupe, just everywhere really.

George: What made you think to do the DVDs?

Martin: It was actually a friend of mine from Magicseaweed. He said there were instructional DVDs out there already that weren't really that good. He inspired me to crack on and make a product that would show our skills as instructors and pass that knowledge on to people all over the world. That kick-started it. We already had a customer base and we developed a product for them, working closely with Magicseaweed.

George: Okay. Who are those guys? How do they fit into it?

Martin: Magicseaweed are one of the biggest surf websites in the world. They forecast the surf and what it's going to be like on beaches everywhere. They're based just a few miles from where I am in Devon, but they're a global website; they've got a big reach. It's been really cool working with those guys and we're both developing a business together, really. It's been good.

George: When you produced your first DVD did they help you market it to their current customer base?

Martin: They knew that there was demand for it from their customer base. That spurred me on to make a video because I knew that people were going to buy it. Obviously, it's still a lot of time and effort and commitment to put into a project, so you're still thinking, "Oh, I hope someone does like it, and I hope someone buys it".

"We started doing digital versions last year, in November, and it has given the videos a really good lease of life. People can download them anywhere now."

George: I know that feeling well.

Martin: I think that's one of the big things – just going for it and giving it a shot. Thinking you might fail probably puts a lot of people off, so you've just got to commit and go for it. That first video has been super popular and it still sells really well now. It's been nice to open up into the digital world as well. It's really, really given the videos a new lease of life.

George: When you started to go digital, how many products did you have?

Martin: 110% Surfing Techniques Volume 1 and Volume 2 were our main sellers. We had a couple other DVDs as well. The first thing we did was make Volume 1 and Volume 2 available as a download. We then did a marketing campaign with Magicseaweed – it was material that was 4-6 years old, but it was now available as a download, so that gave us a really good boost. At the same time I was finishing 110% Surfing Techniques Volume 3, which is all new material. It meant we had this instant hit with the Volume 3 download because we already had had a bit of time playing with it, getting used to setting up the site and working with digital downloads. When the big release came for Volume 3, we were set up. We felt comfortable with it all and confident that it was all going to work.

George: How long does it take you to make one of these videos?

Martin: It's quite a long process. The actual movie is 60 minutes – a good, solid lot of content. We also do a flip version of it. In surfing, you have different stances, so usually my right foot is at the back of the board. There's goofy foot though, which is left foot at the back. I flip the screen so when you're watching, you can relate to it yourself. In terms of how long it takes, we go out filming in different places around the world as well as locally in Devon. We shoot in France, Australia, Hawaii, New Zealand, places like that, to get some different looks and see good surfers.

George: Do you star in the videos yourself or do you get other people to do that and you're just instructing?

Martin: My main role is to get the tips and produce it, but, especially in the early days, my wife Annika would film and I'd surf. I still do that – it's a bit of a mixture, really. It's a bit of me, other people re-enacting stuff, trying to mix it up a bit. Especially this recent one, there's some technical bits and some news footage. It's all good. Getting people to film is usually pretty tricky, so it works out better financially for me to film as well.

George: How do you go about arranging a shoot?

Martin: I get together a shot list, and then look at specific bits I want to film and what angles I'll use. Then it all starts to fall into place. I'm not trained in all this though. I've picked up tips from friends. It's fun learning new stuff like what platforms to use and how you can work things out. Then I spend loads of time editing. That's hard. I get pretty frazzled.

George: You said you go to places like Australia and France to film. Is that because there's better waves there, there's some people you want to see, or you want to have some fun?

Martin: I guess a bit of everything. I'll do a lot of it at home. I generally go to where there's going to be some good surfers, so if there's a big contest on in France, Australia, or what have you, I'll go there because there's more chance of seeing some top guys out surfing. Hopefully, if there's some good guys out, I can get some good footage. Then I just line up with a couple of local guys and get some footage of them.

George: Do you have to ask to film them or is it fair play that you record them and use that?

Martin: A lot of time I just walk up to the beach and film. It's like taking a photo, really. Just taking the shots, generally earning the rights to it. I buy content off other videographers as well. I was missing a few airs that I needed for Volume 3 so I just bought some clips. For other stuff, I'll be working more closely with surfers, so we'll hook up and just try certain angles I'm looking for, and work a bit more with shot lists.

George: How do you distinguish yourself from other people providing instructional surfing videos?

Martin: There's a lot of YouTube kind of stuff, but there's nothing really out there that competes with us, with the amount of work we put into the videos. To go out and do a 60 minute instructional video with different angles and lots of tips takes a lot of work. We got a little niche market. Considering it's a world-wide market, it's quite surprising, really.

George: I assumed there'd be loads of people lying on the beach coming up with this idea?

Martin: Lots of people are really good surfers, lots are really good instructors, and lots are really good actors, but it's just putting it all together and having the time as well that's hard. I have a lot of time in the winter when the surf school is quiet to do these things. Although with the DVDs and downloads at least I wake up in the morning and I can see the sales we've make all through the night because it's summertime somewhere.

George: How do people find and buy from your website?

Martin: Our main marketing tool is to give Magicseaweed free content. That way they get some good content exclusively and it works for us because the only place you can download our movie is actually off our website. If people want to buy it instantaneously and not buy a DVD, they come straight to our site. We also started a YouTube channel in November and we've got 4,000 subscribers now.

George: Do you use any other social media like Facebook and Twitter, or is it just mainly YouTube?

Martin: I thought Facebook would be a real good one, but YouTube seems to be getting the most views and subscribers. I thought it would be the other way around, but I guess it is video content. We have got Twitter, but it's just linked up with our Facebook. We've got Instagram as well. All those things are quite hard because you have to do things quite regularly. It's like a job in itself. I'd rather just be producing stuff. My wife does a bit of social media and a bit of marketing and stuff. People do seem to find us eventually!

George: What have you got in the pipeline at the moment?

Martin: I did an interactive game, like a DVD game, which I was really, really chuffed with but it didn't sell very well – so I'm trying to keep to what I know works. We've got 110% Volume 4 in the pipeline, which I've started writing. I haven't started to film yet. We're also going to do a longboarding video this winter. It's not going to be as big as the 110% ones. It's going to be a bit of a sneaky one to get out there before the Volume 4. It takes a lot of work so I don't want to rush things. Because each one's got to be better, yeah? That's the hardest bit: making the next video better. I don't want to just produce stuff to get it out there. It's got to be good and it's got to be better than the last one. That's my aim.

"That's the hardest bit: making the next video better. I don't want to just produce stuff to get it out there. It's got to be good and it's got to be better than the last one."

George: That's great general advice for life as well.

Martin: Yeah, and it's about me enjoying it as well. It's got to be fun because at the end of the day, I've got another business that takes up a lot of time and energy. When I'm doing this, I've got to be motivated.

George: Martin, it's been an absolute pleasure talking to you. If listeners want to learn to surf or to see one of your videos or come down to visit you, where can they find you online?

Martin: All the downloads and DVDs, including 110% Surfing Techniques, are on surftechniques.com. If you want to come and learn to surf or improve your surfing visit us in Devon. We're at Bigbury and it's Discovery Surf School – discoverysurf.com.