What worked for performance marketing yesterday will waste your budget tomorrow.

Drop in a pixel, track conversions, and scale what works. But if you’ve tried the same playbook lately, you already know that it doesn’t work anymore.

So here’s the real question: how do you still run effective performance marketing when the rules have changed?

At our recent GTMDialogues session, Neeraj Ravi (Performance Marketing Consultant) and Swati Paliwal  (Marketing Leader at Sprouts.ai) broke down exactly how SaaS founders like you can adapt. 

The answer isn’t bigger ad budgets or more tools, but it’s about building an AI-first growth engine that uses the data you already have to create smarter targeting and more personalized campaigns.

You’ll learn:

• Why the traditional performance marketing playbook is failing in a cookieless world.
• How to rethink your ICP using first-party data instead of third-party cookies.
• How to use AI for predictive audiences and personalized ad testing.
• Practical steps you can apply even as an early-stage SaaS founder.

This isn’t just about replacing cookies. It’s about building a predictable, scalable growth system that works in 2025 and beyond.

Why the Traditional Playbook is Failing

For almost a decade, SaaS founders could follow a familiar growth playbook: add tracking pixels, collect cookie data, run ads, and optimize based on the numbers you saw on dashboards.

That playbook doesn’t hold up anymore. As Neeraj put it during the session:

The signals you once trusted are now fragmented. Platforms no longer give you the same depth of user behavior data.

If you’re still running campaigns the old way, you’re likely spending money without knowing what’s actually working. But this isn’t just a failure, rather it’s an evolution. The problem isn’t that you’ve lost data. The source of truth has shifted.

Here’s what that means for you:

• Stop depending on third-party cookies.
• Treat your CRM as the core of your targeting.
• Use your website activity as real buying signals.
• Look at product usage data to refresh and refine your ICP.

In short: your marketing engine now needs to be built on the data that’s already yours. And this creates a new opportunity. 

For you, this might mean moving away from guesswork and toward a model that’s powered by first-party data and AI-driven intelligence. 

The companies that make this shift fastest will be the ones that can still scale efficiently, even as tracking gets tougher.

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The AI-Powered Growth Engine Framework

So how do you move from broken attribution to predictable growth?
Neeraj shared a simple but powerful idea: think of AI as the engine that runs on three interlocking gears—Data → Targeting → Persuasion.

1. Make Sense of Your Data

Your best data is already in your hands, your CRM and first-party signals.

• Refresh your ICP regularly. Most founders set it once and never revisit it.
• Track beyond the 5% of users who convert. What about the other 95% who bounce?
• Use lead scoring to identify who’s serious vs. who’s just browsing.

2. Smarter Targeting with Predictive Audiences

Rule-based targeting (“show this ad to anyone who visited my pricing page”) is outdated.
AI lets you move to signal-based targeting:

• Feed enriched CRM cohorts back into ad platforms.
• Build lookalike and predictive audiences from actual high-intent behaviors.
• Use deanonymization tools to uncover which accounts and roles are showing up.

3. Build a Persuasion Engine

Even with perfect targeting, bad ads won’t convert. This is where AI helps you scale personalization.

• Rapidly test multiple creatives using tools like ChatGPT + Canva.
• Go beyond generic messaging and speak directly to your ICP’s pain points.
• Use AI automations (Zapier, Make) to create personalized variations at speed.

Neeraj shared an example:

When these three gears click, ie. better data, smarter targeting, personalized persuasion, you stop guessing and start knowing. That’s how an AI-first playbook gives you sustainable, predictable growth.

Closing the B2B vs B2C Gap in Ads

To be honest, most B2B SaaS ads look the same. Text-heavy, product-first, and frankly, boring. Compare that to B2C ads that are emotional, personalized, and memorable.

As Neeraj said:

So, how do you fix it? By borrowing a page from B2C without losing the context of your audience.

What B2B Can Learn from B2C

• Start with pain, not product. Don’t lead with features—show that you understand the problem.
• Add emotion. Make your ads relatable to the daily struggles of your buyer.
• Include social proof. Testimonials and results make your message credible.
• Always end with a clear CTA. Don’t let interest die without giving the next step.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All

Not every buyer wants the same tone.

• If you’re targeting enterprise accounts, keep it professional and straight.
• If you’re targeting startups or SMBs, go bold, fun, and highly creative.

The Role of AI in Closing the Gap

AI makes it possible to scale this personalization.

• Generate multiple ad hooks (negative, positive, benefit-driven).
• Test dozens of creatives quickly without needing a huge design team.
• Tailor your messaging to industry, role, or even the specific pain point of a segment.

As Swati shared from her own workflow:

When you combine B2C-style creativity with AI-driven personalization, your ads stop feeling generic and start actually resonating with the people you want to reach.

A Practical Playbook for SaaS Founders

It’s easy to get lost in theory. So here’s a step-by-step playbook you can apply, even if you’re running a lean team and budget.

1. Start with First-Party Signals

• Don’t waste energy tracking vanity clicks. Focus on high-intent actions.
• Track visits to pricing and demo pages.
• Mark downloads and sign-ups as signals worth scoring.
• Treat these as the foundation of your ICP refresh.

2. Use Deanonymization & Enrichment

• Most visitors leave without filling a form. That doesn’t mean they’re invisible.
• Tools like Clearbit, Apollo, Sprout, or Clay can help identify account-level visitors.
• Filter by account + role to see if they match your ICP.
• Enrich with personal + professional emails to improve ad match rates.

3. Feed Data Back into Platforms

• Your CRM isn’t just for storage, instead it can be your targeting goldmine.
• Push enriched lists into Google, Meta, and LinkedIn.
• Let their AI models build predictive audiences from your best-fit cohorts.
• Keep refreshing cohorts so targeting stays relevant.

4. Layer Outbound with Performance

• Paid ads alone won’t cut it. Combine channels.
• Run LinkedIn outbound (manual or via automation tools like Reach).
• Use email nurtures, but keep within safe send limits.
• Prioritize warm ICP accounts for outbound and let ads scale the broader audience.

5. Scale Creatives with AI

• This is where you save both time and money.
• Use ChatGPT + Canva (or Claude + Canva) to auto-generate multiple creatives.
• Test different hooks that are pain-driven, benefit-driven, and emotional.
• Rapidly iterate instead of waiting weeks for design cycles.

Neeraj shared his experience:

Follow these five steps and you’ll have a system that’s data-driven, AI-powered, and founder-friendly with no big agency or bloated spend required. 

Building Your Growth Engine for 2025

The old playbook is gone, but that doesn’t mean growth is out of reach. With AI, you can build a leaner, smarter, and more predictable system that helps you scale without waste.

Here’s what to focus on as a SaaS founder:

• Rethink your ICP regularly – don’t rely on the first version you created.
• Prioritize first-party data – track high-intent actions on your website, not just vanity clicks.
• Enrich and segment – use tools to uncover and score accounts that actually match your ICP.
• Feed the right data into ad platforms – let AI build predictive audiences on top of your strongest cohorts.
• Pair paid with outbound and nurture – performance works best when supported by multi-channel engagement.
• Scale creatives with AI – generate and test multiple versions quickly instead of depending on long design cycles.

The winners in 2025 won’t be the ones with the biggest budgets. They’ll be the ones who know their audience best and use AI to act on that knowledge faster than the competition.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How do I define my ICP if my website is new?

If your website is fresh, you may not have enough first-party data to work with. Start by reverse-engineering competitors:

• Look at what keywords they rank for.
• Study the audiences they target in ads using tools like SpyFu.
• Use these insights to create a starting ICP, then refine it as your own traffic and data grow.

2. What budget should I plan for performance marketing?

Your budget depends on whether you’re following a product-led or sales-led motion. A simple rule of thumb:

• Average B2B SaaS landing page conversion is ~5%.
• That means you’ll need about 20 visitors for every demo.
• Work backwards from your target number of demos per month to calculate a realistic budget.

3. Which platforms work best for Indian SaaS founders?

• LinkedIn offers the most accurate targeting but comes at a higher cost.
• Google works best when there’s strong search intent for your category.
• Outbound + LinkedIn automation tools (like Reach) often outperform paid email campaigns, especially for B2B SaaS in India.

4. How can AI help if cookies are gone?

AI doesn’t replace cookies but strengthens the use of your first-party data. You can apply it to:

• Lead scoring and prioritization in your CRM.
• Building predictive audiences based on real behaviors.
• Automating ad copy and creative generation for faster testing.

5. What if I don’t have a large user base yet?

Start small and focus on quality signals:

• Create high-intent pages such as demo, pricing, and solution-specific pages.
• Track engagement on these pages as a measure of buying intent.
• Use deanonymization and enrichment tools to identify which accounts are visiting, even if volumes are low.

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