Turn a Professional Credential into Cash

Guest Post by Cassie Boorn. Cassie is a writer, social media specialist, entreprenuer and PR girl who has built digital programs for Fortune 500 companies, entrepreneurs, small businesses and bloggers. You can find her shelling out PR and career advice weekly at AskaPRGirl.com

In my earlier post, How to Turn a Professional Credential Into a Job Promotion, we talked about what credentials are and how you can leverage them to build your brand.

 Now, we get to talk about the fun stuff, how can a credential help you make more money?

 1. Pitch a story or guest post to a well-known site

 When you receive a new credential it will usually spur some chatter in the social media space and drive some traffic to your site. This is the perfect time to use that attention to get published in a national media outlet or write a guest post for a big blogger.

 Here are three stories Claire could pitch to any business focused outlet after her feature in Fast Company:

• How I made the list of 100 most creative people in business
• 25 creative ways to use Twitter for your non-profit
• 5 creative ideas from one of the most creative people in business

 Could she have written some of these posts without her new credential? Absolutely, but the credential makes you more likely to catch an editor’s eye and more interesting to readers.

2.     Land that gig you have always dreamed of

 Whether you are a public speaker, writer or consultant you can use a new credential to land that gig you have always dreamed of. Receiving a new credential is the perfect time to follow up with potential clients or pitch a new speaking gig.

Your email could look something like this:

 “I wanted to reach out and introduce myself because I am a big fan of your X and thought there could be some interesting ways for us to work together.

 (Insert a blurb about how you want to work together)

 Sincerely,

 Claire Diaz-Ortiz

Recently named one of the 100 most creative people in business by Fast Company (no need to bold it, but you get the point!)

www.clairediazortiz.com

 3.     Launch a new product

 In this post we talked about how you can turn the traffic you receive from your new credential into loyal readers. Now we are going to talk about how you can turn that traffic into profit. It is so easy to launch digital products and receiving a new credential is the perfect time to do so.

 Here are three products Claire could create with this new credential:

• An e-book with 100 creative business ideas from one of the most creative women in business
• An e-course/mentorship program on creating innovative and disruptive ideas
• A live Q&A chat about creative business ideas

 It is important to remember that credentials expire so you want to make them work as hard as they can for you while they are still good. Next year there will be a new list of 100 creative people in business and your credential will go from “one of the most creative people in business” to “named one of the most creative people in business in 2012” which obviously is only impressive for so long.

Now, to you. How have you turned credentials into profit? Do you have any unique ideas about doing so in the future?