The only pathway visible to most smokers quitting in the last decade has been government created and promoted methods. With an abundance of funds and dominance in television, radio, and web ranking, other quit smoking alternatives were left unseen, not standing a chance against the government powerhouse. Successful techniques, like hypnosis, were confined to being boutique style and known only throughout communities through word of mouth.
Until Mathieu Mariole, an esteemed Australian entrepreneur, successfully broke into the industry using Facebook ads. Initially connecting with people across Australia, the daily enquiries for the service were overwhelming. Fast-forward just over 12 months, and Mathieu’s company is now generating over $1 Million in sales from the smoking industry using Facebook ads.
I recently interviewed Mathieu and found interesting insights into why he choose such an obscure niche and how he achieved such an astounding result.
How did you get started helping people Quit smoking?
For years, I did nothing with the education and certifications I had in hypnotherapy. I didn’t learn hypnosis by choice; it was a mandatory byproduct of a course I attended. It wasn’t until years later, after speaking with a friend I studied with, that my interest in the industry spiked. I’d recently returned from overseas, and our conversation got me excited to hear about the success in business he was having through helping people quit smoking. I decided to do the same.
How did this transition to Facebook advertising take place?
The timing was virtually in sync, looking for a fresh start, after years of being continually disappointed by third-party marketing companies. I decided to learn the trade. I looked for the best person in Australia to teach me how to do Facebook ads successfully. I came across Ben Simkin & Liam Donnelly and decided to go all in, joining their masterminds.
I knew I was in the right place to get results. Convinced the smoking industry was a gold mine, my mentors advised me to follow through with the idea before moving onto another area of business.
After doing my own research, I saw there were over 2 million smokers in Australia. In my mind, all smokers want to quit, so I launched my first campaign that’s been running for well over a year, with the enquiries flooding in daily since then.
How did you scale and grow it so fast?
It all happened fast. Initially, I did the therapy then found myself limited by the number of people I could help in a day. Since lead generation was never an issue, I got additional therapists and salespeople on board to keep up with demand. It was easy to have people join the company because there were always clients interested.
Now, I’ve franchised this marketing system to therapists across Australia, so they can get daily enquires for their practices.
What can therapists learn from your journey?
Besides the ‘never give up’ philosophy, the reality is clients are always there and they’ve always been there. There’s abundance for everyone. The only thing preventing therapists from having clients is not having a system that gives them clients.
What’s next in business?
The business model has come such a long way since the first ads started. First doing therapy, then hiring therapist and salespeople, to helping other therapist grow their business to now franchising our model across Australia then Europe and America.
I’m excited about the direction we’re going. The potential for us to continue scaling is endless.
For those looking to grow their business using Facebook, it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter what the industry is, having the right offer in front of the right audience is always going to generate phenomenal results!