Developing a Brand for Success in the Creator Economy

Set Up Your Business Structure

First, register your content business as an LLC.

“One of the major reasons to form an entity is to establish a separate landing for liability. The operations and the actions of the entity should be distinct from the person,” says Frank Poe, attorney and founder of Poe Law, PLLC, who advises creators on business and legal matters.

Forming an LLC can help separate your personal life from your online career, and paying yourself a regular salary through your business entity can help you achieve predictable income out of fluctuating payments.

Having an LLC may also be viewed favorably by companies you want to work with. Andrew Lokenauth, founder of The Finance Newsletter, says that his LLC helps him land brand deals because it shows he’s a professional.

Lokenauth started creating content during Covid as a way to diversify his income and pursue new opportunities in anticipation of the AI wave. He drew on his finance background to create content on platforms including Instagram, Twitter, Reddit and TikTok, then moved into long-form content with his Substack. He now has more than 100,000 newsletter subscribers and says he makes seven figures from his content business.

Lokenauth tracks all his expenses using a business credit card and a spreadsheet to take full advantage of deductions. He sets aside 30% of his income for quarterly estimated tax payments.

Last July, he switched to an S-corp, which he says helped him save $25,000 on self-employment taxes. He believes creators should consider an S-corp when they have $80,000 in net profit.

“You have to pay yourself a normal salary, which could be about $50,000, but you can also start giving yourself quarterly distributions. And the tax rate on distributions is lower than taxes as a self-employed person,” he says.

As you develop your brand, you’ll need to take steps to protect your intellectual property. Lokenauth learned this lesson the hard way after someone copied a content series he created. Now, he registers trademarks for his key brand elements at $1,000 to $2,000 per trademark.

He says the expense is well worth it. “Once you build a brand, you should definitely have [a trademark]. If not, people can sell products, courses, merch under your name, under a brand that you built,” Lokenauth says.

Monitor for content theft online. If you find businesses posting your work without permission, you may need to submit DMCA takedown notices to get the content removed.

First, though, Lokenauth recommends reaching out to websites that are plagiarizing your work and asking them to remove it. You can offer to create content for them in exchange for a fee.

“If they really like your content to the point where they'll copy it, maybe they'll like it enough to pay you to create it for them or their small business,” he says.

Be Authentic

Pick a subject that you’re able to speak honestly about. To gain traction online, content has to be genuine.

“Most of the creators I work with, they're building [their audience] from authenticity, so they have a genuine connection with their audience. And that authenticity is really what they're leveraging throughout doing business with brands,” Poe says.

Gracie Pleschourt, founder of Dating With Gracie, had to pivot when the early content she created didn’t feel authentic enough. She started her Instagram and TikTok accounts to attract clients for her life coaching business, and she assumed that she would be working with women. But after about a month, that approach wasn’t successful.

“It felt like it wasn't me. It wasn't how I would talk to my girl friends, it wasn't how I would talk to just any random new person that I would meet. And I felt very performative,” she says.

She started getting messages from men asking her to tailor her dating advice to them, and she started creating content for a male audience.

“When I had made the shift to posting for men specifically, it felt comfortable. It didn't feel like a performance. It felt like I was just giving one of my guy friends some advice and trying to help them out, and I felt like myself,” Pleschourt says.

Her audience grew rapidly after that, and she now has 600,000 followers across the two accounts. Men who want additional guidance can buy a membership in her community on Skool, participate in group calls or hire her to coach them one-on-one.

Clients often comment that when they work with her individually, she sounds just like she does in her online content.

“That's what people connect with most is when they feel like you're a real person, when they feel like they can relate to you, when they feel like they could see you on the street and come up and talk to you,” Pleschourt says.

And there are a few other key ingredients to include in your content. If you’re advertising a product, be sure to disclose that. If you’re on camera, include a line like, “I’m working with XYZ Brand…” in the video itself to comply with regulations. Check out the FTC’s influencer guide for some do’s and don’ts.

“The general idea is that the creator has to convey to their audience that there is a material connection with the brand, that it's not just, ‘Oh, I just found this brand at the store and I care about them,’” Poe says.

You should also include a call to action directing viewers or readers to share, comment or subscribe. People are more likely to engage if you ask them to.

Partner With Brands

Brand deals can be a valuable source of revenue for creators. These agreements may take a few different forms:

• Affiliate links. The brand provides a unique link or code to tally the sales generated by the creator, and revenues are split between the creator and the brand.

• Guaranteed-fee deals. The creator features the brand in a set number of posts in exchange for a one-time fee.

• Creator-generated content. A creator licenses content to a brand without necessarily posting it themselves.

• Collaborations where the creator is part of the product. A creator might appear in a brand’s workout video or lend their name to a jewelry line, for example.

Do some research on brands you’re thinking of working with to make sure their products are sound and there’s nothing iffy about their business model. Consider whether a brand will be of interest to your audience, and if you can truly stand behind it.

Jasmine Charbonier, entrepreneur and founder of Your Tampa Bestie, moved to Tampa in 2020 and started creating content about local food and activities to meet people and create community in her new home. Her follower count has grown to 50,000 across Instagram, Substack, TikTok and YouTube, and as her audience has expanded, she’s been approached by both local businesses and national brands for partnerships.

She’s selective about which brands she works with, turning down opportunities like a sponsored post from a company selling supplements that she felt would undermine her credibility with her audience. She also doesn’t promote alcoholic beverages because she’s sober.

“If it's not a brand that I would normally use, if it's not a drink that I would drink, then I'm not going to post about it. And so I just try to really align that with my personal values and goals,” Charbonier says.

At first, Charbonier sometimes entered into handshake agreements with businesses, forgoing a contract if the brand didn’t offer one.

“I just thought that I didn't have to worry about that and the fear was I didn't want to lose the deal by being a stickler or being thought of as hard to work with, that kind of thing. And so I said, there's no way that there will be an issue,” Charbonier says.

But after a large brand ghosted her without paying, she realized she needed a contract. She now has a standard template that outlines how she’ll be reimbursed for any supplies she has to purchase, and she requires a 50% deposit upfront.

Charbonier began charging brands according to partnership tiers ranging from $500 to $2,000 a month, and she’s built a spreadsheet of various factors that affect the price she charges.

If the brand is providing a contract, creators need to read it carefully to see if the brand is making them shoulder any liability for the partnership and to see what limits are placed on their license.

“You should always have visibility as to where your name and image and everything is going to appear. So it should remain on just the brand’s owned and operated and existing channels, their social media channels, their website, that kind of a thing, and try to avoid having them be able to sub-license it out to people that you don't know,” Poe says.

Brands often request exclusivity, and you have to consider whether you can comply with that. Charbonier asks brands to submit lists of companies they consider their competitors so she doesn’t have to guess who qualifies. And exclusivity typically costs more.

“If your competitor reaches out to me and is offering me $10,000 for working with them for two months, I need to be compensated from your end to make sure that this is a fair deal,” Charbonier says.

Even if a contract doesn’t require creators to work with a brand partner exclusively, once they’ve endorsed one company, they can’t just turn around and promote a close competitor in the next post or video.

“Naturally the audience is going to realize that they have now chosen their side, if you will. They won't be able to work with other brands in that area,” Poe says.

Scale Sustainably

Scaling a content business often means branching out to new platforms, diversifying revenue streams or introducing new products.

Pleschourt realized she needed to change her business model when her schedule was fully booked with individual client calls.

“It gets pretty draining by the end of the day after six to eight calls back-to-back,” she says. She opened her group membership, leaving the option of one-on-ones for men who want extra support.

And you may reach a point when you can’t do it all yourself. Charbonier was originally reluctant to outsource tasks, but after a panic attack she realized she couldn’t continue at the same pace.

“I felt because it was my brand and my business, I had to be the one to do it. And so I really struggled with that and trying to figure out how can I have someone else create content for me?” Charbonier says.

She decided to focus on shooting the content, which is the part of the job she loves, and she handed off less enjoyable tasks like email scheduling and editing to part-time assistants.

Pleschourt, too, was hesitant to outsource at first, but she now has someone to handle sales and is benefiting from higher volumes as a result.

“When you find the right people that are aligned with your mission and want the same things that you want, it is a complete game changer. I mean, I was maxed out on time, and when you get to a certain point, your time becomes your biggest asset when it comes to building a business,” she says.

While you might want to focus on increasing your follower count on one platform at a time, it’s a good idea to reserve your handle on all sites immediately so no one else can claim it. Try to move toward posting on at least a couple different platforms so you aren’t at the mercy of the inevitable algorithm changes.

“When it does happen, you can keep posting on a different platform, keep that engagement and you'll figure out the change in a month or two,” Lokenauth says.

Consider a backup like starting your own newsletter or email list so you have more direct contact with your audience. You should also follow the platforms’ communications about what kinds of content they’re prioritizing, and participate in the creator community to learn from others.

“Reach out to your peers and find out what's working for them,” Lokenauth says.