Business Power Of 3D Print Wearables

Business events are crucial for networking. Here, you meet a number of people from your industry who could be keys to your growth. As such, it is then very important that you make not only good but also lasting impression. In a 3D print event, 3D print wearables hold business power that could make you stand out. Tom Hazzard and Tracy Hazzard attest to this, discussing in today’s show the story of Tom’s 3D print tie and how it got him the right kind of attention for his business. Listen in on this episode to know the marketing opportunity found in 3D print wearables.

—

Listen to the podcast here:

Business Power Of 3D Print Wearables

Our topic is the business power of 3D print wearables. We have seen it firsthand. You wear that 3D printed tie to a lot of conferences and a lot of events.

I can vouch for that. Since August 2015, I’ve been wearing that 3D printed tie to every different event we go to. These are mostly not 3D printing events. These are mostly straight business events. I wear ties as little as possible. I’ve not been a tie wearer. I had my feel of it years ago. I needed to wear suits and ties to a lot of events. It was required of me and I rebelled against that. The 3D printed tie is an exception. I enjoy wearing that and I’ll wear it anywhere. What I discovered is nobody ever forgets me. They may be the type of person that doesn’t remember names well but when they see me and then they see me again, they’re like, “You’re the guy that had the 3D printed tie on, didn’t you?” It’s interesting because there’s incredible business power in it, because either people notice it right away and they want to know about it. Regardless of what the conversation was in a little small group at the time, the conversation completely shifts to about you and your tie and people want to know about it. They think you’re cool. They want to know a lot about it.

We spread a lot of podcasts news that way.

The other fun part is having a conversation with people usually at a round table discussion or something and it’s going on for 30 or 45 minutes and then some reference will come up with the conversation like, “Tom’s 3D printed tie.” People double-take and be like, “What? That’s what that is?”
They didn’t understand or see it.

Standing out in business is about how you differentiate yourself and your business. Click To Tweet

My favorite is you get a lot of it and it’s mostly women and they’re like, “Can I touch it?” They all want to come up and touch the tie. At least they ask, but it’s cool to have that interaction with people because now you’ve known you’ve made a connection and that’s the business power of it. It’s not just remembering you and your business, it’s remembering the whole effect of what you’re leaving them, this brand identity of who we are and what we do. They’re not going to forget, “That’s the podcast host.” It happens when we go back to an event and you’re not wearing your tie. Sometimes when we arrive that day, you don’t wear the tie the first day when we get there because you flew in and people will say, “Where’s the tie?”

At some of these business events that are not 3D printing related, sometimes I’m not wearing the tie every day. What I’m there to talk about is more podcasting than it is about 3D printing. You have people who know you and have seen you say, “Where’s the tie?” They miss it. You get known for it. That’s a good thing. The point is if you create something unique that’s a 3D print wearable, then you will be recognized and talked about at events whether it’s CES, which I wore it all around CES, I’ve got tons of attention there or it’s any other trade show. It doesn’t matter. If you use 3D printing in your business but you have a different trade show that has nothing to do with 3D printing and you want to get attention, it’s a good way to do it.

If it’s back to school night and your parent-teacher, this interaction, it’s an opportunity to generate a conversation around something that you’re passionate about. It’s a great way to do that. Going out there and wearing your 3D print on your sleeve or on your neck, it doesn’t matter how you’re doing it but it’s a great way to do that. What we wanted to highlight is there’s a lot of business power on it, there’s a lot of brand power, but there’s also a lot of message power in it. You get to talk about 3D printing and spread the message of what you’re teaching about, what you’re doing. What’s cool about it is it’s coming across in the item that you’re wearing.

I highly recommend it as a marketing opportunity and attention-getter. When you think about it, standing out in business is about how you differentiate yourself and how do you differentiate your business.

3D Print Wearables: If you want to get noticed in the process of things, you are required to take the initiative to go out there and make sure that you are your brand.

How you stand out as an individual even within a business. You are the brand. We know that you are the brand. If you want to get a promotion or you want to get noticed in the process of things, you are required to take the initiative and to go out there and make sure that you are your brand no matter whether you’re in a company or in a business on your own.

I remember back, we had been asked by a 3D print manufacturer if they could display our tie at a trade show booth as a good example of a cool 3D print project. We’re like, “Yeah, sure. I’d be happy to have you do that.” I assumed early on that what they meant was they wanted to have all of the people in the booth who were there staffing the booth would want to be wearing them. All of their representatives would be wearing them because it would have been a great example of what the printers are capable of. They didn’t go that way. They weren’t interested. They just wanted to display it in a display case and show it as an example of a project, which I was also okay with.

They missed the mark.

You can imagine it would be easy to print up a bunch of ties for all the staff in the booth to wear. I even know a lot of women would enjoy wearing it. Maybe they wouldn’t wear it right up tight to their throat the way a lot of men do with the top buttons all the way button, but they could let it hang down a little more. I was quite surprised that they didn’t see the opportunity in that.

3D print wearables can be used as a marketing opportunity and attention-getter. Click To Tweet

It’s because they haven’t worn it themselves out and haven’t realized the interaction that happens. We got approached by a photographer friend of ours, because you were wearing this at many events that he approached you. We have a Facebook page called 3D Wow Tie. You can find that easily on Facebook. On it are all these funny pictures of people interacting with Tom and the tie. That’s what it is. Every time he wears it, people make goofy faces and are holding onto the tie. It’s because they were interacting with you. All of a sudden, the photographer catches it. It doesn’t have to be showing a 3D printer in every image that you’re making of it. You need to show people interacting with things and enjoying them and getting use out of their 3D printed objects, whatever they might be. Wearing something is a great way to do that. It could be jewelry. It could be headbands. We’ve talked about making sunglasses for me because I wear my hair back with sunglasses all the time. I’m going solo to the CEO Space and you won’t be there.

That’s a problem. I need to give you something to wear.

I need something to wear while I’m there. We need to come up with something that’s cool. When we do, we’ll add it to this blog post. We’ll put it up and we’ll push that out on social media and you guys can see that. You can see that at 3DStartPoint.com. You can find us on social media, @3DStartPoint.

If you’ve made any wearables or seen any good 3D print wearables, please let us know, either comment in the blog posts or social media or email us at Info@3DStartPoint.com.

Thanks again for reading.

Important Links:

Listen | Download | View

Hear the episode of the WTFFF?! Podcast by using the player above OR click to download any episode.

Listen to the podcast here:

Business Power Of 3D Print Wearables

Important Links:

Listen | Download | View

Help Us Help You!