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3D Hubs offers an on-demand manufacturing service that makes high quality and custom parts for engineers worldwide, with an array of machineries such as 3D printing, CNC machining, injection molding, and sheet metal fabrication. The network was founded in 2013 by Brian Garret and Bram de Zwart and has since manufactured 4 million parts for 35,000 different companies. Their services are trusted by top companies such as NASA. HP, and Audi. 3D Hubs is innovating the market; from prototypes to end parts, the whole process is as fast and hassle-free as possible, with services such as instantaneous quotes and short 5-minute long order processes.
3D Hubs is a fast-growing business operating in a very niche industry. Challenges were mostly about simplifying complex content, like that of 3D printing and all its intricacies, making them newsworthy and easily-legible to non-experts. Without implementing efforts to reach these audiences, 3D Hubs would exclusively cater to a small subsection of the industry, when their products and services can be useful to a bigger customer base. Another layer of this challenge was 3D Hub’s decision to move from a B2C business model to a B2B one, signifying, even more, the necessity to enter a more mainstream audience. PRLab helped with this by being flexible and writing content that was both appealing to mainstream media and also further promoting the B2B perspective that emphasized 3D Hub’s re-branding.
Creating a narrative around 3D Hubs’ services and industry was the priority considering that storytelling is an important form of engagement. We translated their stories and made them more engaging by constructing educational articles centered around a community of creators about their goods and services. We also helped write pitches for the 3D Student Grant 2018; a 3 x $1000 grant for students with promising 3D printing projects in either engineering, product design, or architecture. The efforts of breaking down stories made 3D Hub’s services more relevant to mainstream media and audiences, gaining them wider and more prominent exposure. PRLab also pitched to specialized media, regardless of their expertise. All of these efforts included the targeting of audiences, two articles per month, pitching, and guest blogging efforts. Combined, these efforts helped gain more coverage for 3D Hubs at a time when they were experiencing rapid growth and expansion.
