This week, I was in Boise sipping my iced coffee at a creator conference when it hit me: I could be at a tech conference and the conversations would be exactly the same.

"How did you decide on the price of your product?" "Do you think my ICP is too broad?" "How are you building conversion paths from free to paid?"

Later that day, I even got to meet Liz Wilcox — email marketer, creator, and recent contestant on Survivor. (Yes, that Survivor. Yes, I have a photo.) It was one of those perfect crossover moments: the worlds of tech, storytelling, and strategy all colliding.

Which felt fitting, really. Earlier this year, we ran a Survivor-themed Day Camp for PMM leaders. Turns out, the overlap between creators and product marketers isn’t just metaphorical. It’s real.

That’s when I realized: PMMs are creators. We just haven’t claimed it yet.

Creators Are the New PMMs

When I worked at Kajabi, I saw firsthand how the most successful creators were doing product marketing better than most startups. They deeply understood their audience. They built offers that solved specific problems. They told a clear story about the transformation they were selling. Sound familiar?

The overlap became even more obvious when I became a full-time creator myself. We always say PMMs are mini-GMs. Well, now I was actually the GM of my own business. And let me tell you: nothing sharpens your PMM instincts like betting your own income on whether or not your positioning lands.

People sometimes ask me why I left PMM. But I didn’t leave. I just found the ultimate playground to learn how to be a better PMM.

Coming off a week of learning from creators at Craft + Commerce — and reflecting on how much sharper my own PMM instincts have become — I started seeing clear patterns.

Here are four lessons PMMs can steal from the creator playbook:

Creators move fast (and test faster)

At Craft + Commerce, I saw creator after creator talk about launching before they were ready. Anne-Laure Le Cunff gave an incredible keynote on running "tiny experiments" to test hypotheses in real-time. One of her slides captured it perfectly: failure = learning, curiosity > certainty, action + reflection.

PMMs can apply this by thinking more like scientists than strategists. Instead of aiming to be right, aim to learn. Pick one hypothesis you want to test, ship a tiny experiment, and learn fast. But don’t forget to reflect on the actions you take. Real growth comes from pairing action and reflection, not just stacking actions as quickly as you can.

Creators own their narrative

When you’re at a conference, you hear “what do you do?” dozens of times. I discovered that creators are masterful at describing what they do in a single, sticky sentence. Not a 4-page messaging document.

One of the most practical frameworks I heard all week came from Clay Hebert: “I help [people] [verb their noun].”

Like mine → I help product marketing leaders find their people.

Imagine if PMMs approached internal positioning or even product positioning with the same clarity and confidence. Clay suggested that great intros aren’t about being complete or accurate — they’re about being referable: easy to remember, repeat, and pass along.

Creators publish to influence, not just inform

Creators know that ideas are more powerful when they’re shared. They don’t wait for perfection. Instead, they publish early and often to shape how their audience thinks. The goal isn’t just to share information: it’s to influence behavior, build trust, and drive action.

PMMs can do the same inside their orgs. Too often, our best thinking lives in Google Docs no one reads or strategy decks no one remembers. Instead, treat your internal work like a series of creator-style posts. Publish short POV memos. Share narrative iterations. Show your process, not just your outputs.

The best part is: publishing invites feedback. Whether it’s a newsletter reply or a Slack thread comment, creators are constantly building tighter feedback loops with their audience. PMMs can do the same. The more you share, the more signal you get — and the faster you improve.

Creators build businesses, not just assets

Creators don’t measure success by how much content they create. They measure it by the impact that content has on their business. The same should be true for PMMs.

Everything we do — from messaging to enablement to launches — should be tied to business outcomes. Not just activity, but real results: increased revenue, faster adoption, stronger retention. If you can’t draw a line from your work to a company-level KPI, it’s time to ask why.

When you treat PMM like a growth function, not a service desk, everything changes. You prioritize differently. You say no more often. And you finally start to get a seat at the strategic table.

You don’t need to quit your job and launch a newsletter or a course to become a creator. You just need to start thinking (and acting) like one.

And when you do? You’ll learn more, stay accountable to real results, and earn the influence you need.

Plus, I think you’ll find it’s pretty fun too.

CAMPER ESSENTIALS

📚 Reading List: Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff. This is a practical guide to testing ideas, learning fast, and building momentum through small, smart bets.

🎧 Playlist: The Nathan Barry Show (he’s the founder of Kit). One of my favorite podcasts for stretching your GTM thinking. Nathan’s conversations blend business strategy with creator execution — the perfect combo if you want to think beyond the typical tech playbook.

📺 Watchlist: Survivor Season 46, Liz Wilcox’s season! A reminder that strategy, storytelling, and audience perception are just as important on the beach as they are in your GTM plan.

Now, time to catch up on my sleep.