Paging is growing in popularity, and to profit from it, carriers better get their networks prepared now. That is the message Motorola Inc. is pushing with a new campaign and Web site aimed at promoting its Paging Systems Group to wireless carriers.
“Paging takes guts,” states the campaign. To see paging’s potential, one has to “read between the lines.” Motorola’s campaign is making it easier to read between those lines by taking a decidedly in-your-face approach in hawking its paging infrastructure wares.
For instance, Motorola quotes statistics from Strategy Analytics, Donald, Lufkin & Jenrette, the Personal Communications Industry Association and William Blair and Co. that say alphanumeric paging will make up 32 percent of all paging users by 2001, two-way paging will have 14 percent, voice paging will grow to 12 million users by 2001, there will be 10.3 million two-way subscribers by 2002, and paging will account for 39 percent of all wireless users in the country by 2003.
“Who will serve this market?” asks the company. “Only those with the capability and capacity. Only those who can read between the lines, add to their infrastructure-and reap the rewards.”
“It’s a rallying cry for the industry outlining the tremendous growth potential right now and the hot markets that exist for investors,” in the future, said Matthew Piette, director of communications for the Paging Systems Group. “As you know, the paging industry has had challenges recently,” he said, hence the it-takes-guts promotion. “But if you look closely, there’s tremendous potential both now and in the future,” he continued, which leads to the read-between-the-lines bit.
Doing a little of its own reading between the lines, Wintergreen Research Inc. said the print promotional effort and the Web site work in tandem to drum up business for Motorola, which wants a piece of the paging infrastructure pie.
Analysts estimate Motorola holds about a 30-percent market share in paging systems sales, while Glenayre claims most of the remaining 70 percent.
Reading between the lines even further, some analysts wonder if the campaign is aimed more at the financial community than carriers. Motorola’s stock price has taken a hit of late following several lower-than-expected quarterly financial results. Its market share for handsets has fallen and the financial crisis in Asia has affected paging sales.
So while the promotional campaign may exist in part to woo carriers to Motorola’s equipment, analysts say it is likely that a good part of the effort also is to remind investors that Motorola is still the 800-pound gorilla in paging.
However, the expanded Web site takes great efforts to meet carrier needs. On it, Motorola advertises its various paging infrastructure solutions, which can be added-one-by-one-to existing networks without making them passe. “Phase in Motorola systems solutions one at a time,” it reads, “without rendering your existing infrastructure obsolete. Add on capacity, capability-and new revenue streams.”
The expanded Web site also exists to provide value beyond that of a mere public-relations tool, the company said.
“We wanted to get it much more in line with what our customers expected.” Piette said.
Before, the site contained basic product descriptions and contact phone numbers. Now, the site contains downloads for technical specifications, system diagrams and message system architecture, as well as links to technical publications. It also contains help references, from warranty information to technical specifications. In particular, Motorola said the site came in handy during the recent pager outage, providing technicians information on how to best reconfigure transmitter sites to the new satellite.
The Web site, developed over several months, was launched at the beginning of May and announced at Get Connected ’98. The promotional print campaign began June 1.
