Human-First AI Marketing Podcast by Avenue9
Discover how to harness the power of AI without losing the human touch. Hosted by Mike Montague, Founder of Avenue9, this podcast delivers actionable insights to help small and mid-sized businesses market like big brands. With expert interviews, relatable success stories, and practical tips, we show you how to amplify your marketing efforts with AI tools that enhance—not replace—human creativity and connection. Whether you're a business owner, marketer, or curious about the future of AI, this is your go-to guide for building smarter, more authentic marketing strategies.
Episodes
If you're leading a small to mid-sized business, AI is already part of your world, even if your company banned it. In this episode, Alec Crawford of AI. Risk joins Mike Montague to explore the real risks AI poses to SMBs: data privacy, prompt injection attacks, and brand reputation. But more importantly, they discuss the risk of doing nothing at all. From employee workarounds to unsecured AI tools, the conversati...
In this special episode of the Human-First AI Marketing podcast, Mike Montague celebrates National AI Appreciation Day with the first-ever Avenue9 Human-First AI Marketing Awards – Class of 2025.
Mike shares his favorite AI marketing tools: the ones that help real humans do better, more impactful work. These tools save time, reduce the grunt work, and help marketers scale without losing authenticity. If you’ve ever won...
Mike Montague sits down with Dan Nestle of Inquisitive Communications to explore how the marketing game is changing and why curiosity is now your most valuable asset. From the rise of large language models to the deluge of dull, AI-generated content, they unpack why asking better questions, not writing better copy, is the skill that separates standout marketers from the rest. Whether you're leading a content team...
Mike sits down with Sara Nay, CEO of Duct Tape Marketing, to explore how AI is reshaping marketing roles and why strategy, leadership, and emotional intelligence are more important than ever. Sara shares what small businesses often get wrong about AI and why letting go of your agency (or your content writer) doesn’t mean you should let go of your marketing direction. They unpack the changing role of fractional CMOs, w...
In this episode of The Human-First AI Marketing Podcast, Mike Montague sits down with Dilip Dubey, founder of Sutra.AI, to explore how small and mid-sized businesses can finally unlock the real promise of AI, without needing massive budgets or technical teams. Dilip shares what he calls the “three big shifts” AI is making possible for SMBs: closed-loop marketing, precision timing, and access to global data insights. I...
In this episode of Human-First AI Marketing, host Mike Montague sits down with Tim Brewer and Damian Bramanis from Functionly to unpack one of the most urgent questions facing modern leaders: how do you structure a business when AI changes what people actually do? Spoiler alert: it’s not about mass layoffs or robot takeovers. It’s about faster org design cycles, rethinking roles, and helping humans focus on work that ...
In this episode of Human-First AI Marketing, Mike Montague sits down with Vinod Kumar, founder of Syntheum.ai, to explore how AI is transforming one of the most overlooked but essential roles in retail and e-commerce: merchandising. They dig into how AI tools are finally giving merchandisers the support they deserve, freeing them from spreadsheets, synonyms, and search-engine gymnastics, and putting the focus back on ...
Ethical AI isn't just a philosophy; it’s a practical framework for building better digital experiences. In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing podcast, Mike Montague sits down with Warren Wilansky, founder of Plank and the Ethical Web Collective, to explore what ethics actually look like in web design and development. From accessibility and inclusion to sustainable coding and responsible data collection,...
Forget clicks. What your customers feel matters more than what they say or do. In this episode, Alexandra Gonzalez of Savvy Marketers joins us to explore how sentiment analysis, facial recognition, and biometric data can reveal the emotional truth behind your marketing. We dig into why 93% of communication happens beyond words, how to uncover hidden emotional signals in your campaigns, and how SMB marketers can apply ...
In this episode of the Human First AI Marketing podcast, host Mike Monague sits down with Zeke Camusio, founder of Data Speaks AI, to explore how small and mid-sized businesses can unlock the true potential of their marketing data. With decades of experience in both marketing and data science, Zeke breaks down how AI-powered analytics can help SMBs cut through complexity, eliminate guesswork, and make smarter, ROI-dri...
Are you feeling pressure to “keep up with AI”? You’re not alone and you’re not crazy for being skeptical.
In this episode of Human-First AI Marketing, Mike Montague sits down with former Google strategist and author of Infailable, Chris Hood, to talk about what AI can actually do for small businesses and what it can’t. Spoiler: it’s not as “autonomous” as everyone’s saying.
We break down real ways yo...
If you're building or thinking about building a membership community, this episode will change the way you approach it. Nathalie Doremieux, co-founder of The Membership Lab, joins Mike Montague for a human-first conversation on what really makes membership communities thrive. Spoiler: it's not content volume or fancy platforms; it's alignment, authenticity, and intentional activation. Whether you’re a c...
Mike Montague sits down with Greg Wasserman, a self-proclaimed "relationship broker," to explore how AI is changing the way we build trust, make introductions, and grow our businesses. They unpack why automation isn’t enough, how referrals and warm intros still outperform cold leads, and why understanding context beats simply generating content. If you're tired of playing the algorithm game, this is you...
What makes a story resonate?
Tim Kalinowski, founder of Lore Creative, joins Mike Montague to unpack the storytelling strategies that actually connect with real people and how SMBs can use AI to amplify them without losing the human heartbeat of their brand. From five-star reviews as a narrative starting point to the “aha moments” that trigger buyer action, this episode explores how modern tools like AI can help you fi...
Most marketing teams pour time, money, and AI tools into tactics, email sequences, content engines, and funnel hacks without realizing their core offer is the real problem. In this episode, Mike Montague sits down with Jessica Miller, award-winning host of It’s Your Offer, to unpack how to create "Hell Yes" offers that act as the most profitable lever in your business, especially under $1M in revenue. Togeth...
Mike Montague interviews Eric Eden, CMO at Workforce and host of the Remarkable Marketing Podcast, about how CROs and B2B leaders can cut through the noise of vanity metrics, bots, and fake engagement, and use AI to scale trust, not just clicks.
Eric shares how he uses over 25 AI tools to create a full podcasting and content engine and why platforms like LinkedIn are broken for business growth. The conversati...
The Unified Marketing Playbook CMOs Shouldn't Ignore
In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing podcast, Mike Montague sits down with Badri Veera and John Karl from Crigloo to explore how CMOs and marketing leaders can stop managing disjointed channels and start orchestrating unified campaigns with contextual AI.
They dive into how real-time budget optimization, persona-based targeting, and cross-channel orche...
In this episode of the Human-First AI Marketing Podcast, Mike Montague sits down with Michael Buckbee, founder of Knowatoa, to explore how the rise of AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity is reshaping the rules of discoverability. Michael challenges the idea that SEO is dead and instead reframes it as evolving—fast. The two dig into the shift from keyword rankings to AI-generated answers, the new role of...
Lisa Oda, founder of HiveStir and Director of AI at Infinite Marketing, explores how AI is transforming modern marketing practices. Mike and Lisa dive into practical applications, including content repurposing, funnel optimization, prompt engineering, and persona-driven strategies. They also discuss how to effectively stack AI tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gamma to elevate marketing performance.
If you’v...
What if your AI could do more than just answer questions? In this episode, Måns Näsman shares a powerful new vision of “dualistic AI,” where multiple humans and AI agents collaborate in real time to solve bigger problems, scale communication, and build startups faster than ever before. Instead of relying on narrow, task-based AI tools, Måns explores how entrepreneurs and small teams can use collective intelligence to ...
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