GrowthRise Mastermind #9 Recap: The AI-Powered B2B Marketing Playbook

Yesterday the GrowthRise community came together for Mastermind Call #9.  There was so much value shared that we decided to compile a summary of the best insights with you in this week's newsletter below 👇.

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‍GrowthRise Mastermind #9 Recap:
The AI-Powered B2B Marketing Playbook

If you're leading a $1M+ B2B company, chances are you're already knee-deep in the ever-evolving world of lead generation, nurturing, and conversion. But as buyer behavior shifts, inbox competition grows fiercer, and AI tools become increasingly powerful, the question becomes: how do you adapt without burning out?

The April 29th GrowthRise Mastermind call delivered a goldmine of insights for B2B marketing leaders ready to sharpen their edge. Here’s the full breakdown—spanning cold email best practices, warm nurturing sequences, video messaging, LinkedIn ads, lead scoring systems, and more—straight from the minds of today’s growth leaders.

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Topic 1: Cold Email Marketing – How AI Personalization is Shifting the Game

The mastermind kicked off with a lively discussion about cold email strategy, especially how to personalize at scale using AI tools. It’s clear that in the 2025 B2B landscape, your cold outreach must be as human and relevant as possible—even when you're sending hundreds or thousands of emails.

Two options were discussed managed cold email execution – neither of which do AI personalized campaigns yet.

Instantly’s VIP Service
This service is positioned as a semi–done-for-you model. Instantly’s team will handle copywriting and activate campaigns. It’s ideal for teams that want solid frameworks and support but still want visibility and control over the campaigns.

One participant noted:

“They basically just write the copy and turn it on.”

ListKit’s Done-For-You Offer
ListKit will write your cold email copy, set up the email inboxes, warm them up to ensure deliverability, and maintain everything on your behalf. That includes monitoring domain health and sender reputation—critical factors in cold outreach today.“ListKit has a done-for-you service where they'll write your copy, set up the inboxes, warm them up, and then maintain it.”

Both services run about $1,500–2,000 per month, making them accessible for growth-stage companies that want predictable outreach without hiring a full team.

The group then recommended using Cristian Frunze at GetKen.ai for AI personalized outbound done-for-you setup starting at $2500-$4500 per month.

• GetKen.ai – A done-for-you agency in the AI-driven email personalization space

However, the real kicker came from AI. We shared our learnings at GrowthRise running AI-personalized campaigns versus standard cold emails. Using Claude and ChatGPT to dynamically generate icebreakers and insights based on a lead’s LinkedIn profile or recent activity, we saw click-through rates of 7–13% compared to the typical 1.5–2%.

That’s a 4x to 6x lift—without changing the offer.

And the format works best when the content focuses on offering immediate value, not jumping into a sales call pitch. This was emphasized several times:

“Don’t lead with, ‘Hey, want to book a demo?’ Lead with: ‘Hey, saw you’re doing this—here a report or case study or video that might help.’”

AI-generated personalization gives scale and relevance—but the value exchange still matters.

As with all relationships - give before you ask.

Topic 2: Warm Email Nurturing – The 90-Day, 30-Touch Approach

Once you’ve started the conversation, keeping that interest alive over time becomes your next challenge. The community moved into warm email nurturing next, and a clear best practice emerged: nurture consistently, but not aggressively.

The sweet spot?

“We’re finding two to three warm nurture emails a week to be optimal.”

Send less, and leads forget about you. Send more, and you burn trust and risk unsubscribes.

Here at GrowthRise and SaasRise, we send all of our warm audience a 30-lesson email sequence spread over 90 days (every 3 days).

This automated nurture path is sent to all new subscribers and plays a key role in gradually moving people from cold opt-in to ready-to-buy:

“Just running that sequence every single time someone new comes in as a warm lead dramatically improves awareness and conversion.”

The structure of this sequence focuses less on hard selling and more on providing deep and progressive value.

At SaasRise and GrowthRise, we use Transpond.io to manage email campaign sending.

During the call we discussed the importance of a global opt-out list across all email tools to avoid accidentally emailing people who already unsubscribed in a different sequence or campaign.

Why does this matter?

In today’s B2B compliance environment (especially in GDPR and CAN-SPAM zones), mismanaging opt-outs can get your domain blacklisted. One founder cautioned:

“Make sure if someone opts out of one list, they’re out of all of them.”

So warm nurturing in 2025 is about consistency, compliance, and clarity.

Send value every 2–3 days. Track who’s engaging. Respect their boundaries. Let the sequence do the heavy lifting.

Topic 3: LinkedIn Advertising – Thought Leader Ads vs. Display

The third big pillar of the call was LinkedIn advertising, and the message was loud and clear: Thought Leader ads are dominating.

Here’s the cost breakdown shared on the call:

Ad Type

Cost Per 1000 Impressions (CPM)

Thought Leader Ads

$30–35

Traditional Display Ads

$150–200

That’s a 5x to 6x difference in cost—and the performance backs it up.

So what are Thought Leader ads?

They’re ads that look like a personal post from a company founder or executive, but with paid distribution. It’s storytelling meets media buying.

“Instead of running display ads, we’re boosting posts from the founder’s LinkedIn.”

These posts often perform better because they’re native, they feel real, and people scroll right past traditional banners—but stop when they see an actual face sharing a personal insight or customer win.

Another participant added:

“If a post performs well organically, we’ll throw $200 behind it and see what happens.”

It’s an effective way to scale without having to reinvent the creative every time. You can A/B test several boosted posts and then double down on the winners.

Another common tactic was content splintering:

• Step 1: Create a long-form post or video
  
  
• Step 2: Pull out 3–5 nuggets or quotes
  
  
• Step 3: Run each as its own ad or organic post to see what lands
  
  

From there, teams can build retargeting audiences based on video views or engagement, then follow up with higher-intent CTAs (like webinars or gated demos).

The key, again, was leveraging organic resonance first—then layering in paid budget.

Topic 4: Lead Scoring – Smarter Sales Handoffs with Behavioral Points

After covering top-of-funnel strategies, the GrowthRise Mastermind shifted the conversation toward lead qualification—specifically lead scoring.

In a crowded B2B space, not every inbound lead deserves immediate human attention. Without a clear system, sales teams either waste time on tire-kickers or miss hot prospects. That’s why a point-based lead scoring model inside the CRM is crucial.

Here’s the basic scoring logic outlined during the call:

Action

Points Awarded

Website Visit

1 Point

Email Open/Click

2 Points

PDF or Case Study Download

3 Points

Webinar Attendance or Demo

5 Points+

It’s elegantly simple—but extremely powerful when enforced consistently.

“If they click an email, maybe they get two points. If they download a PDF, maybe that’s three points.”

When a lead crosses a threshold—say, 10 points—they’re flagged as a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL). From there, a rep can reach out, or the system can trigger an automated invite to book a call.

And when does sales get involved?

• Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) designation kicks in after further vetting: e.g., budget, authority, need, and timing (BANT criteria).
  
  
• Having both stages clearly defined reduces friction between marketing and sales teams about “what is a good lead.”
  
  

The tools mentioned for implementing this model were:

• Hubspot (best for marketing-heavy teams needing baked-in automation)
  
  
• Pipedrive (leaner for SMBs without complex tech stacks)
  
  
• Salesforce (robust for multi-product, multi-country sales environments)
  
  

One participant highlighted that beyond points, context still matters. A lead who visits the careers page and a lead who downloads the ROI calculator score the same—but are obviously at very different buying stages.

Thus, teams were encouraged to combine:

1. Activity scoring (what actions a lead has taken)
   
   
2. Intent scoring (what type of content they engaged with)
   
   

For example, someone visiting your “Pricing” page twice in 48 hours should get a 10/10 intent score, even if their total points are still low.

🔥 Big takeaway: Lead scoring is a conversation starter, not the full decision-making system. Human sales judgment still matters—but AI scoring provides an initial path.

Topic 5: Video Marketing – AI Personalized Videos as Trust Accelerators

The next topic of the mastermind that was presented by attendees was video messaging, especially using AI personalization at scale.

This was one of the most energizing parts of the call.

Several founders shared how they were using platforms like Potion and SendSpark to send 1:1 personalized videos to prospects en masse—and the results were surprisingly strong.

Example shared:

• 20,000 videos sent
  
  
• ~900 videos watched
  
  

At first glance, 900 out of 20,000 might seem low. But remember: if you're selling a $10,000, $50,000, or even $100,000 solution, one engaged video viewer can mean tens of thousands in new revenue.

And these were not just static videos—they were dynamically personalized by:

• Saying the recipient’s name in the first 3 seconds
  
  
• Screensharing the recipient’s company website in the background
  
  

“Potion can take a video and change the first few seconds automatically based on the prospect, before continuing into a pre-scripted presentation about the offering being presented.”

While SendSpark offers some more features, Potion is fantastic for ease of setup and compatibility with multiple CRM tools.

With a little extra automation effort, you can even set up automated workflows that send personalized videos upon core actions taken by your prospects.

Suggested Workflows:

1. Lead downloads an ebook → Potion auto-generates a video → Sends within 30 minutes.
   
   
2. Someone no-shows a demo → Personal video sent through SendSpark to reschedule.
   
   
3. New MQL hits 10-point score → Triggers an invite via personalized video instead of text email.
   
   

This creates a feeling of real human care—even though it's 90% automated behind the scenes.

🎥 Key point: Video personalization isn’t about wowing prospects with flashy production. It’s about creating a felt sense that someone sees and values them.

Topic 6: Sales Call / Demo Strategy – Designing for Buyer Autonomy

Finally, the participants of the call discussed the evolution of sales calls and demos.

The traditional “book a demo, sit through a 30-minute call” model? It’s crumbling—especially with younger buyers (Millennials and Gen Z) who vastly prefer asynchronous education options.

Buyers today want control. They want access before interaction.

Here’s the new recommended funnel sequence outlined:

Stage

Tactic

Top Funnel

Interactive demo (Arcade.software)

Middle Funnel

On-demand webinar

Bottom Funnel

Calendar invite for a true live call

Tools like Arcade.software allow companies to build lightweight, interactive product walkthroughs that prospects can experience without booking a call.

One participant explained:

“You want them to be able to experience the value before asking for their time.”

Instead of forcing people into a rigid sales call, let them taste the platform, learn about it asynchronously, and self-qualify.

When they're ready to engage, make it easy.

Another recommendation was to embed calendar links directly into email signatures—even in nurture sequences. This shifts the dynamic:

• The lead chooses when to engage.
  
  
• Sales only speaks to people who are already mentally pre-qualified.
  
  

Also discussed: when a lead books a call, give them optional pre-watch material (like a demo video or case study) before the meeting. This raises sales call quality dramatically because:

• Prospects already understand the basics
  
  
• Sales conversations shift to objections handling and deeper customization
  
  
• Overall closing rates go up
  
  

⏩ Final advice: Build buying journeys that honor autonomy. If you let people educate themselves on their terms, they'll show up to calls significantly warmer and more serious.

Tools & Resources Shared

Here’s the full toolbox mentioned during the mastermind:

Tool

Purpose

Clay.com

Work Email and LinkedIn data enrichment

Potion / SendSpark

AI video personalization

Arcade.software

Interactive product demos

HockeyStack

Product analytics (great for tracking onboarding and retention funnels)

BaseRow

Internal database + workflow collaboration

Hypertide

Email infrastructure management

Beehiiv / Transpond

Newsletter + email campaign platform

🧰 Stack Strategy: Use Clay to enrich data, Potion to create warm intros, Arcade for product previews, and Beehiiv/Transpond for nurture. Then drive traffic from those email platforms to your favorite CRM (Salesforce, Hubspot, Go High Level) to track lead generation, followup, conversions and upsells.

Final Thoughts: AI + Human Energy = Your Next Stage of Scalable Growth

The biggest insight from GrowthRise Mastermind Call #9?

AI isn’t here to replace your team — it’s here to unlock your team's greatest leverage.

From cold outreach to nurture campaigns, lead scoring to sales demos, the companies breaking through the noise right now are doing a few things differently:

✅ They integrate AI in ways that enhance human connection
✅ They respect buyer autonomy with asynchronous and self-serve options
✅ They use real-time behavioral data to trigger conversations, not just automations

The tools are here. The strategies are working. Now it comes down to focused execution.

So take a moment. Ask yourself:

Where in your funnel can you inject more empathy, more intelligence, and more relevance — starting this week?

🚀 Ready to Scale? Here Are Two Ways We Can Support.

If you've made it this far, you're clearly committed to scaling your B2B SaaS company with precision, performance, and purpose.

And we’re here to help you do exactly that.

Below are the two ways we can support you:

🎓 Option 1: Apply to Join the GrowthRise Membership

The GrowthRise Membership is built for Marketing Leaders across any industry who are scaling their organization from $1M to $100M in ARR — and want to surround themselves with a growth-minded community of professionals.

Inside the membership, you’ll get:

💬 Private Slack + WhatsApp groups with access to 130+ CMOs & Marketing Leaders
🔁 Weekly Mastermind Calls to solve real-time growth challenges
📚 Access to our B2B Growth Course Slides
🎯 Member Directory to connect by industry and revenue stage
🎁 Perks and discounts on vetted tools and vendors
🧠 Weekly support from Ryan Allis and the GrowthRise coaching team

👉 Apply here to join the GrowthRise community and start your free 14-day trial.

🎯 Option 2: Apply for the Upcoming B2B SaaS Growth Program Cohort

If you’re looking for deeper implementation support to actually build and launch your growth engine step-by-step — the B2B SaaS Growth Program is your next move.

This 16-week, done-with-you accelerator helps you:

✅ Build a laser-targeted ABM lead list using Clay, Apollo, ListKit & Instantly
🚀 Launch digital ads across Meta, LinkedIn, Google, Bing & AdRoll
🧪 Optimize funnel conversion rates with proven CRO frameworks
✉️ Deploy AI-powered outbound campaigns that generate real results
📈 Track CAC, CPL, ROI, and KPIs across the full funnel
🔄 Scale your system using real-time data and weekly feedback

You’ll get live coaching, funnel reviews, campaign builds, and Slack/email support — all directly from the SaasRise and GrowthRise team (Ryan, David, Salman).

🧠 If you represent a $1M–$100M ARR B2B company ready to build a repeatable revenue engine, this is your moment.

👉 Apply here to join the next B2B SaaS Growth Program starting soon.

Apply Here by April 30 ✅

The future of growth is here — and it's human-first, AI-powered, and founder-led.

All the best,

Ryan Allis, CEO & Founder
GrowthRise | The Community for B2B Marketing Leaders