Meet the founder
Mike Montague
Founder of Avenue9 and creator of Human-First AI Marketing®. A B2B marketer who helps expert-led firms turn their expertise into content, conversations, and clients.
25+years in marketing and sales
250+marketing clients
3,000+podcasts, broadcasts, and events
200+websites built
The story
Mike Montague has built a career at the intersection of marketing, sales, and technology.
- Marketing: 25+ years of local and national campaigns for product launches that generated millions of dollars in global sales; best-selling books; virtual and live event marketing with thousands of attendees; viral videos; and hosting 1,000+ podcasts that resulted in millions of views, plays, and downloads. Mike knows how to reach, connect, and engage an audience.
- Sales: 14 years teaching sales, coaching teams, and leading global content, online learning, and franchise strategy at Sandler, so he understands the psychology, process, and techniques of selling, and every marketing campaign is built to start a sales conversation.
- Technology: Built 200+ websites, broadcast the KC Chiefs Radio Network online for the first time in 2007, developed the award-winning learning platform behind Sandler Online, and created numerous courses and communities that engaged online audiences. He is one of the rare few who can speak sales, marketing, and tech. His technical understanding of AI is matched by his ability to communicate complex ideas in a relatable way.
Along the way, he’s interviewed celebrities, experts, and clients; ghostwritten several books; and written hundreds of blog posts and white papers for people with the expertise but who needed someone to draw it out. He has spoken on stages from HubSpot Inbound to ATD and Vistage ChairWorld, and for the Governor of Missouri.
Human-First AI Marketing® sits right at the center of Mike’s expertise.
Your marketing needs a leader who understands the benefits and limitations of sales, marketing, and technology. Your audience, your team, and your budget need a leader who will put them first throughout this digital transformation. Your expertise deserves a professional marketer who can turn it into content, conversations, and clients.
Mike is available for consulting, speaking, board appointments, and other collaborations.
Proof
What our clients say
“Thank you for helping me turn twenty-five years of experiences, conversations, and half-formed ideas into a book. You helped me recognize that the most interesting lessons weren’t necessarily the financial ones. They were the human ones. Your questions pushed me to find the stories behind the advice, and this book is better because of it.”
Nathaniel Tilton · Founder, Tilton Wealth Management
“Mike and his team have been instrumental in devising and executing our current marketing strategy. The results we are seeing are much better than any of our previous marketing efforts, leading to increased revenue, and I highly recommend Avenue9.”
Eddie Clark · President, Solve iT
Credibility
The receipts
- YouTube Silver Creator Award for over 100,000 subscribers in 2026
- Top 10 AI Marketing Podcasts in 2026 (Feedspot)
- LinkedIn Top AI Voice 2025
- #1 Amazon Best Seller in Happiness for Playful Humans, co-author of LinkedIn the Sandler Way by LinkedIn and Sandler; author of the upcoming Human-First AI Marketing
- Top Sales Article of 2023 – ChatGPT Prompts for Salespeople (Top Sales World)
- 2023 Top Sales & Marketing Podcast Finalist (Top Sales World)
- #1 Inspiring Indies Podcast 2022 (Amazon)
- Totara Learning Management System Project of the Year 2017
- Named a Rising Star in Kansas City Business 2015
- Best Karaoke Host in Kansas City (AOL & 435 Magazine 2005)
Brands Mike has worked with
Now, he uses his decades of past marketing experience and the AI tools of the future to help scaling businesses amplify their impact.
Our philosophy
AI is fast, and trust is slow.
Humans create direction, and AI creates momentum. The firms that win the next decade will use AI to amplify what makes them human, and Mike built Avenue9 to help them do it without burning cash, burning out their people, or burning bridges with their audience.
Let’s talk
Human conversations still matter.
Start one. Tell Mike where your marketing feels stuck.