Visual marketing is more important than ever. It is highly effective in generating leads, increasing sales and boosting website traffic. Think about the posts that catch your attention. I bet they are the ones with images or videos right?
Visual marketing uses photos, videography and audio to communicate with an audience. The 3D printing revolution means visual marketing has taken on a more tangible role where you can display prototypes of upcoming projects.
3D printing has experienced sharp growth due to several business advantages including low cost and printing prototypes, as and when required.
In this short article, we have gathered information that will help you get an insight into visual marketing. Keep reading to understand how 3D printing can help grow and maximise your brand and business.
What Is Visual Marketing?
Visual marketing is the use of photos, videos, and other forms of multimedia material to develop your brand and communicate with your target audience. Visual marketing focuses on connecting with your audience through visual media.
It will help you portray certain issues and concepts that would otherwise be difficult to approach with only text as part of a bigger marketing strategy. Visual marketing may produce greater engagement, or conversation, between a brand and its consumers, just like it can on social media, where images create more engaging postings.
In marketing, you don’t just want someone to see your ad; you want them to interact with it, whether it’s by clicking on a link, downloading an offer, or purchasing something. Visuals help to build more impactful advertisements that pique our interest and make us think. They give us something tactile to associate with a business or product, rather than merely a forgettable string of black and white text.
The Evolution Of 3D Printing
Many companies now offer 3D Printing services, Surface Scan being one of them. Back in the 1980s, 3D printing was an idea of Hideo Kodama. His idea was unfortunately not given a patent in Japan.
Then an American engineer, Charles Hull created a prototype for the stereolithography process. This used ultraviolet lights to convert acrylic based materials from liquid to solid. This project came to reality in 1986.
In the 1990s, 3D printing evolved slowly. It was costly and still lacked accessibility. However, there was a boom for 3D printing in the 2000s. In 2008, an English Professor, Dr. Adrian Bowyer, created a 3D printer that cost $650.
With an increasing number of low-priced 3D printers, the technology became more common in homes and businesses. More recently, in 2020, 3D printing was used to manufacture masks, respirators, valves and more. The global market for 3D printing products and services is expected to hit 40 billion dollars by 2024, according to Statista.
How Can 3D Printing Help Visual Marketing?
Companies can now develop visual advertising items, of varying sizes, that are not simply photos on a wall but true 3D representations of a product. These campaigns are frequently supersized, thanks to the introduction of 3D printing technologies to visual marketing. People will get to see a tangible form of your product, making it easier to receive feedback and build customer trust.
The quality of the materials is not very relevant because marketing models do not need to be durable or have specific mechanical capabilities. First and foremost, materials must be inexpensive and quick to print. A few 3D printer manufacturers, including HP and its full colour 3D printing systems, have effectively created a new area of 3D printing and marketing by catering to these two key demands.
3D printing also comes with several advantages with some discussed below.
Reasons To Choose 3D Printing
There are several reasons why 3D printing can help your visual marketing, including being cost-effective, speedy, consistent and sustainable.
Cost
For small manufacturing, 3D printing is the most low-cost approach for high-quality production. This manufacturing technology can create fast products in a short period at little cost. Compared to 3D printing, traditional prototyping techniques like injection molding and CNC machining require several expensive machines and highly qualified individuals. These methods require trained technicians and machine operators to manufacture prototypes and production. However, 3D printing only requires a few pieces of equipment to build any project that fits within their manufacturing volume.
Speedy
Rapid prototyping is one of the most significant advantages of 3D printing technology. The process refers to the ability to design, build, and test a customized part in a short amount of time. In addition, the design can be changed without compromising the production process’s pace.
Consistency
The parts are printed one after the other in 3D printing. Each subsequent individual item may be monitored. It allows faults to be detected in real time and minimizes the overall number of failed parts and wasted materials while improving the consistency of the parts produced.
Sustainability
With 3D printing, there are fewer elements that need to be outsourced for production. This has a lower environmental impact because fewer items are shipped around the world and an energy-intensive plant is not required to operate and maintain. 3D printing produces significantly less waste for a single product, and the materials used in 3D printing are often recyclable. This factor also relates to marketing because customers tend to buy from companies taking action towards a sustainable world.
The Target Audience
Visual Marketing can be highly effective for people of all ages. Visuals are easy to capture, even for children. This is because visual marketing often contains appealing photos or videos with some catchy or trending music. The choice of videography, music and content will determine which audience you will reach. Now, with 3D printing, visual marketing takes a more tangible approach.
Let’s say that you have designed a new limited-edition toy car that is only going to be available through a pre-order. You could use 3D printing to make a prototype for display at your store. This would eliminate doubts among potential customers who would otherwise be restricted to a short video or a photo. After experiencing a 3D printed prototype, people might feel excited about renewing this experience by pre-ordering your product. This is just one example of how tangible visual marketing can work.
With creativity there are endless ways of using visual marketing alongside 3D printing to interact with an audience to generate leads and sales. Get in touch with Surface Scan to explore your opportunities!