Human-First AI Marketing®
Turn your expertise into conversations with clients
AI raised the floor and compressed the market, while making everyone sound like the same marketing robots.
We’ll show you a different path with a Human-First AI Marketing® strategy built around the conversations that win deals. And we’ll help you execute it without burning cash, burning out your people, or burning bridges with your audience.
96%of B2B buyers use AI in their jobs
– LinkedIn B2B Institute, 2026
94%fact-check AI with demos, experience, and peers
– TrustRadius, 2026
87%of vendor shortlists start with a referral
– Wynter, 2026
69%want a human to confirm what AI told them
– Gartner, 2026
Sound familiar?
Human conversations with clients still matter, but it’s getting harder to get meetings, referrals, and recommendations.
For years, expert-led firms grew the same way. A founder or a rainmaker got in the room, the client felt the expertise, and the deal closed. Referrals grew the business, and digital marketing filled the gaps for younger associates.
But now, the gaps are growing. Your best relationships belong to one or two people; the next generation never built theirs the old way, and the inbound leads that kept them busy are shrinking.
Meanwhile, buyers ask AI instead of your team, every inbox is full of pitches written by the same prospecting robot, and any deals that look promising get shopped on price because your knowledge is now a commodity.
You’re reaching fewer people.
Cold email replies have fallen by more than half since 2022. (Visionary Marketing, 2026)
Only the founder seems able to open a door. Your team is not having enough high-level conversations or building relationships with potential clients.
You sound like everyone else.
98% of buyers say vendors sound the same, and most executives can’t match a value proposition to the right firm. (Wynter, 2026)
You may be different, but buyers can’t tell. AI has raised the floor for your competition, compressing the market.
You’re earning less.
Production costs are up, budgets are moving in-house (Forrester, 2026), and competitors promise cheaper, faster.
Expertise gets priced like a commodity. AI is not increasing productivity or profits.
Most organizations buy AI tools hoping for a quick fix, and then nobody uses them properly. It’s hard to tell whether they work because they often create demand-gen theater. A lot of time, energy, and money are spent generating more marketing without generating more leads.
You’re working on the wrong end of the problem.
The shift
Content was king for decades. Now, conversations are.
AI can produce more content in an afternoon than your firm published last year, and so can your competitors. What it can’t produce is a human conversation, telling the story of why clients hire you, a founder explaining a hard decision, or an engineer answering the question a buyer was afraid to ask. Those conversations are the most valuable marketing assets you own, and most firms never capture them.
The firms that scale past the founder in the AI era capture those conversations and put them to work, so the next generation can leverage them. We will help you build the strategy, systems, and stories so the business doesn’t stop working when you do.
The roadmap
We call it the A9^Factor.
The A9^Factor is a nine-part marketing system that helps firms like yours go to market with the clarity, confidence, and capability of a big brand. We map the route, build the engine, and fuel it with your stories. You still drive the bus, not AI.
Human-First Strategy
The map. Who you serve best, how you sound at your best, and the offer only you can make.
AI Marketing Systems
The engine. Tools, workflows, and training that let your team create and hold conversations in your brand voice.
Scalable Storytelling
The fuel. Expert interviews capture your sales stories so they accelerate every conversation.
Who we help
Built for expert-led firms
We work with B2B services and solutions firms that sell their expertise: consultancies, IT and technology firms, engineering practices, SaaS companies, and marketing firms. Our clients are at least $1 million in revenue, usually between $10 million and $30 million, with a proven offer and a founder ready to stop treading water and start moving forward.
If that’s you, let’s have a conversation.
How AI fits
We use AI differently.
Our AI strategies are human-first, which means they target your human prospects, not AI algorithms. We use AI to amplify our human teammates and clients. We use it for things people can’t do and for work it does faster and better. We build the strategy with you first; we never outsource our thinking, conversations, or creative problem-solving to AI.
AI doesn’t create slop. People do. We help your team use it to create real conversations with clients.
How we start
One conversation at a time.
Every engagement starts with a 30-minute A9^Factor Roadmap conversation. Mike interviews you about how you win, who you win with, and where the pipeline is stuck. You’ll leave with top priorities across strategy, systems, and storytelling, and a clear read on whether we can help.
Limited to nine firms per month, a priceless AI roadmap for $1,500.
Want a head start?
Diagnose your marketing burn rate first to see whether you’re burning cash, burning bridges, or burning out your team. Ten questions, free analysis, and your answers will shape the Roadmap interview.
Why Avenue9
The hardest part of AI marketing is asking the right question.
AI can write all day, but it still needs something worth saying, and that lives in the conversations your experts have with clients. Getting it out takes an interviewer who knows which questions unlock the real answers.
Mike Montague has spent his career asking smart, tough, and relevant questions and turning the answers into powerful marketing messages. He’s interviewed thousands of celebrities, experts, and clients; hosted over 3,000 live events; and conducted over 1,000 podcast interviews. He spent seven years in radio turning client interviews into commercial pitches every day. He taught professional sales interviewing at Sandler for 15 years to thousands of clients worldwide. He’s ghostwritten several books, authored three of his own, and written hundreds of thought leadership pieces for experts who needed someone to package their message.
That experience brings taste, judgment, and ideas your internal team doesn’t have and AI can’t fake.
Proof
What our clients say
“Mike was instrumental in a lot of the strategic reset decisions we made this past year. Having him provide marketing strategy support to our team while I focused on other priorities was a huge help in shaping where we are today.”
Dr. Roxie Mooney · Founder, Legacy DNA
Brands Mike has interviewed, marketed, consulted or trained
Now, he uses his decades of past marketing experience and the AI tools of the future to help scaling businesses amplify their impact.
Thought leadership
Thought leadership is the real conversation starter.
73% of decision-makers trust thought leadership over marketing materials, and 95% are more open to outreach from a firm whose thinking they’ve read (Edelman-LinkedIn, 2025).
And it’s climbed from the 20th to the 3rd most important buying driver. (B2B International, 2026)
The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast brings you a new conversation every week with leaders using AI without losing the human touch, and the blog shares what we’ve learned from them.
Hybrid Marketing & Delivering Marketing Joy with Kirby Hasseman
Kirby Hasseman joins Mike Montague to explore hybrid marketing, promotional products, and why combining digital reach with memorable human experiences can help…
Using AI for Local SEO with Tyler Henn
AI is changing local SEO by making search more conversational, specific, and reputation-driven. Mike Montague talks with local SEO expert Tyler Henn…
Old School Service, New School Tools with David Levine
David Levine joins Mike Montague to discuss how small businesses can use AI to strengthen customer relationships and create raving fans through…
Questions
Frequently asked questions about Human-First AI Marketing
Can’t we do this in-house with AI?
You can run most of it, and many of our clients do once the strategy, systems, and stories are set. The interviews are the part that needs an outsider. It’s hard to ask your own clients why you’re great and get the real answer, and your team shouldn’t have to. We bring the distance to ask the hard questions, 25 years of taste and judgment about what to do with the answers, and ideas your team and AI haven’t seen yet.
We already have an agency. Why do we need you?
Most agencies sell one lane: SEO, content, email, or ads. We set the strategy, systems, and story those lanes run on, and we’re happy to work alongside the people you already trust.
How is this different from content marketing?
Content marketing produces assets. We start conversations. The content we build comes from real interviews with your founder, experts, and clients, and its job is to get you into the room.
Do you use AI?
Every day, and differently. AI amplifies our humans. We use it for things people can’t do and for work it does faster and better, and we never outsource our thinking, our conversations, or our creative problem solving. Every piece gets a final edit from someone who put their name on it.
What does it cost?
Every engagement starts with a $1,500 A9^Factor Roadmap. From there, most firms run a $15,000 Human-First AI Marketing Sprint and move to a retainer starting at $5,000 a month. If that makes your eyes bulge a bit, remember we’re human-first and build custom, hands-on solutions. You can also diagnose your marketing burn rate for free first.
How soon will we see results?
Time savings and clearer messaging show up in the first month. Better conversations, warmer outreach, and more referrals typically show up within a quarter, and the GTM engine compounds from there.
Let’s talk
Human conversations still matter.
Let’s have one.
Tell us where your marketing feels stuck, and we’ll tell you honestly whether we can help.