North America currently dominates the 3D printing industry with 43% of the world’s business. However, Europe is expected to become the largest world market this year, with the Asian market also growing rapidly. Now more than ever, when it comes to 3D printer marketing, innovative additive manufacturing brands need to think, act and market globally.
While the pendulum has swung hard back and forth in the consumer 3D printing market, the industrial market has consistently accounted for much of the overall growth in 3D printing. Price, speed and novelty remain the name of the game in the consumer market (a search for “affordable 3D printers” returns machines for as low as $159.99) — but industry has other priorities.
As industry rapidly adopts additive manufacturing technology, the 3D printer market has pivoted to hyper-specialized, industrial B2B applications. Industries need to know how 3D printing will complement their existing ecosystem — dependably and profitably. When 3D printer brands quantify how they improve workflow, industry listens.
3D printing companies thrive when they build believable, respectable brands that are hyper-focused on solving specific business challenges.
Solidscape, a well-known brand of high-end 3D printers for the jewelry industry, needed a brand refresh to take on newer, hipper, cheaper competitors in the space and to better position the company for acquisition. Toolbox helped them up their game — rekindling brand love and boosting brand value.
Solidscape, a well-known brand of high-end 3D printers for the jewelry industry, needed a brand refresh to take on newer, hipper, cheaper compettitors in the space and to better position the company for aquisition. Toolbox helped them up their game — rekindling brand love and boosting brand value.
When 3D printer brands position their product not as a be-all, end-all, but as a critical part of an overall production process, their message hits home with industry. The dirty little secret about 3D printing for investment casting with metal, for example, is that 70% of the cost is tied up in pre- and post-processing. The price and speed of 3D printers is less critical than how it will increase efficiency of the rapid prototyping and short-run manufacturing process overall.
3D printing is not only benefiting traditionally technology-forward industries like medical and aerospace. It’s also revolutionizing fields that have remained largely unchanged for centuries, like jewelry and investment casting.
Like many innovative technology companies, additive manufacturing brands are good at talking tech to techies. But to make real inroads in the industrial space, you need to go beyond techies to make meaningful connections with each player in the sales cycle. Prove how your product will be a sound investment to procurement. Demonstrate to the C-Suite how your 3D printing technology will improve their brand and deliver long-term value.
LulzBot, built on an open hardware Rep-Rap model, needed an identity to distinguish their brand in a consumer 3D printer market experiencing exponential growth. Toolbox crafted a visual identity and brand positioning that helped LulzBot grow steadily while other consumer brands crashed.
Solidscape, a well-known brand of high-end 3D printers for the jewelry industry, needed a brand refresh to take on newer, hipper, cheaper compettitors in the space and to better position the company for aquisition. Toolbox helped them up their game — rekindling brand love and boosting brand value.
In the additive manufacturing industry, there’s often a kind of David-and-Goliath relationship between highly specialized 3DP brands and the big guys. And the Goliath’s snack budget might be bigger than your whole marketing budget.
The big players are positioned to be all things to all people, but that positioning can be exploited by agile 3DP brands. Not through brute force — you’re never going to outspend them — but through a hyper-targeted approach to marketing.
When you build positioning around what customers truly love about your brand, you’re able to make emotional connections in ways the big guys simply can’t.
Back up your brand promise with real data, dependable tech and the kind of personal attention the big guys can’t provide.
Prodways Group, one of Europe’s largest producers of additive manufacturing machines, materials and services, partnered with Toolbox to help organize and name their three distinct, interlocking branches. As they increased their presence in the North American market and continued to acquire companies, Prodways needed a solution that would work now and be scalable in the future.
We branded their three branches Prodways Tech, Prodways Build and Prodways Life, simplified the existing corporate identity and developed taglines for each branch. Then we plotted out their brand architecture and developed a visual identity system in which 12 distinct companies (and counting) could maintain their own brand identity while consistently conveying their relationship to Prodways as the parent company. No small task, indeed.
Innovative 3D printer brands will succeed not by being all things to all industries, but by doing one thing for one audience better than any other solution.
Take a peek below. We’ve put together a free 10-step guide that clearly lays out how you can get more interest, more impact and more sales from your datasheets.
The free guide includes:
- Messaging to inspire action
- Formatting for success
- Getting the most out of your data
- Product shots with purpose
Plus 6 more useful tips that will help your datasheets deliver results.
Taking market share from the big guys
How hyper-specialized additive manufacturing brands can compete In our last […]
