Inside Smokeball's Growth Engine: Influencers, GEO and Exec Ads with Christopher Chow
- E274
- 29:56
- November 5th 2026
Christopher Chow, Head of Growth Marketing at Smokeball, joins the show to unpack how the legal software company drives growth through video, customer-led influencer marketing, and early GEO experiments. He breaks down the mechanics behind Smokeball’s best campaigns, including how changing only the “messenger” on an ad, same budget and creative, delivered an 8.7x lift in video completion rate and a 186% increase in ROAS.
Expect real numbers, real campaigns, and honest lessons on what worked and what didn’t.
Guest Introduction
Christopher Chow is an Australian B2B marketing leader, speaker and content creator, and a LinkedIn Top Voice. He is Head of Growth Marketing at Smokeball, with past roles at Apple, Microsoft and Dovetail, and creates content on B2B growth, LinkedIn, and AI.
Key Topics
- Smokeball’s core channel mix (Google, Bing, LinkedIn, SEO, GEO, display, YouTube) and why video leads for pipeline and deal acceleration
- Boosting employee and customer LinkedIn posts with thought leadership ads to cut cost per view
- The Empire Legal case study, where the same video, budget, and audience with the customer as “messenger” instead of the brand produced a 2x view rate, 8.7x completion increase, and 186% ROAS lift
- Why Smokeball lets customers write their own post copy instead of scripting it, to keep content authentic
- Turning execs and employees into influencers, including the “Hey Hunter” series with CEO Hunter Steele, later tested as connected TV ads in the US
- Smokeball’s GEO and AEO approach, a “wild west” of auditing brand consistency, building competitor pages, and testing LinkedIn articles as an AI citation source
- Reusing video across markets, including an Australian case study ad that outperformed after being run in the UK
- Chris’s advice to talk to customers regularly, start with low-fi video before scaling up, and pilot GEO tactics on a smaller property first
Resources & Links
People
- Hunter Steele - CEO of Smokeball, featured in the “Hey Hunter” video series
- Abi Wright - Co-Founder and Director of Empire Legal, in the case study video
- George Sourris - Co-Founder and Legal Practice Director of Empire Legal, also in the video
- Lily Ray - SEO and AI search consultant Chris follows for her E-E-A-T work
- Ethan Smith - CEO of Graphite, a trusted voice on GEO
Companies & Tools
- Smokeball - Legal practice management software, where Chris leads growth marketing
- Empire Legal - Queensland property law firm featured in the case study
- LinkedIn Thought Leader Ads - The format used to boost customer and executive posts
- Customer advocacy, captured on camera - LinkedIn’s case study on Smokeball’s campaign
- Graphite - SEO and AEO growth agency led by Ethan Smith
- Stratechery - Ben Thompson’s tech blog and podcast, a big influence on Chris
- Ramp and Brex - Aggressive competitor pages worth studying for GEO
- Clay - Executives worth following on LinkedIn
Contact & Credits
Host: Shahin Hoda
Guest: Christopher Chow
Produced by: Shahin Hoda and Alexander Hipwell
Edited by: Alexander Hipwell & Dave Somido
Music by: Breakmaster Cylinder
Podcast Co-ordinator: Jonah Igsie
APAC's B2B Growth Podcast is Presented by xGrowth
APAC's B2B Growth Podcast
APAC's B2B Growth Podcast (formerly Growth Colony) is a bi-weekly interview show unpacking trends, busting myths and delivering insights B2B marketing and sales leaders across Asia-Pacific can put to work today.
Each episode, host Shahin Hoda sits down with a marketing leader, sales leader, founder or operator who has a real point of view, not a generic take.
Guests bring specific stories from inside their own companies: what worked, what failed and what they'd do differently.
We cover what's actually driving B2B growth in the region: account-based marketing built for APAC rather than adapted from a US or UK playbook, sales and marketing alignment, and founder and operator commentary from people doing the work, not just talking about it.
If you're a B2B marketing or sales leader in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore or anywhere else in Asia-Pacific trying to build pipeline from strategic accounts, this show is for you.
Hosted by Shahin Hoda, founder of xGrowth. xGrowth is an account-based marketing and go-to-market agency helping global B2B technology companies improve customer acquisition, build qualified pipeline and win strategic accounts across APAC.
The agency works with regional sales and marketing teams to identify priority accounts, develop coordinated campaigns and turn commercial opportunities into measurable growth.
With specialist regional expertise and hands-on execution support, xGrowth gives lean marketing teams the strategy and capacity needed to enter new markets, reach enterprise buyers and grow valuable customer relationships.
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