Marketing budgets for machine builders are defended with numbers, not showreels. Here is a calculation you can take to a finance meeting.
1. Replace the cost you already pay
Start with what you spend on photography: photographer, travel, hall preparation, production downtime, retouching and internal supervision time. For a large machine, an on-site shoot often costs several thousand euros before a single image is delivered, and delivers only what existed on that day. A render set covering the same machine starts at $2,400 and covers configurations that were never built.
2. Count the assets a prepared model produces
One prepared machine typically serves: catalogue images, website, tender documents, trade show print, a booth film, feature clips for sales, manual illustrations, training material and an AR view. If you had to buy those separately, each would carry its own modelling cost.
3. Value the time saved before launch
Rendering can begin months before the first unit is assembled. Launching marketing at the same time as production, rather than three months after it, is usually the single largest financial effect, and the easiest to show your board.
4. Attach it to a trade show
Compare the film and booth graphics cost against the total stand cost. Visuals are usually a small percentage of a stand budget and they are what visitors actually stop for.
5. Measure what you can
- Time from enquiry to technical clarification
- Number of spare parts ordered incorrectly, before and after illustrated catalogues
- Service calls for tasks covered by an installation film
- Product page dwell time before and after an interactive model
- Distributor requests for assets in their own language
6. Count reuse across departments
Service, training and documentation teams normally have their own budgets. When one model serves all three, the marketing spend is shared rather than duplicated.
A worked example
| Item | Without 3D | With a prepared model |
|---|---|---|
| Catalogue images, 5 machines | Photo shoots at each site | Range package from $6,500 |
| Trade show film | Agency models the machine again | Film reuses the model, 20 to 40% less |
| Manual illustrations | Separate illustrator | Exploded views from the same model |
| New colour or option | Reshoot | From $190 per variant |
Trade fairs are often where the return is easiest to see: AUMA reports that 85.4 per cent of capital goods exhibitors rank trade fairs among their top two marketing tools (AUMA, 2026/2027). See the 2027 trade fair calendar.
A simple test
Prepare one machine, produce one render set and one feature film, and track the four measurements above for two quarters. If the numbers hold, roll it out across the range. Ask for a fixed quote.
Send one CAD file for a free assessment.
We open it, tell you what is usable, and return a fixed price and delivery date within one working day. NDA first if you need it.
