At Folder, we do quite a bit of Listener Marketing for radio stations. I'm therefore subscribed to lots of listener emails from radio stations. The one above, from Trent FM, I also received from GWR Bristol and i'm sure it probably went to the rest of the One Network as well.

If you can't read the text it says:

Hi Matt,

Feel Good is one of those albums that does exactly what it says on the box, even the cover makes you smile.

Sample Tracks and Pre-Order

To celebrate the launch of the new Feel Good album from Classic FM, we are offering one lucky winner a years Family Membership to the National Trust.

Win Family National Trust Membership

Have the fantastic new Feel Good album delivered direct to your door this Autumn.

Trent FM

So, let me get this straight. Trent FM is celebrating the launch of Classic FM's Feel Good CD buy giving away a year's membership of the National Trust. Huh?  This makes hardly any sense to me, so god only knows what a listener thinks?

Now, Classic and Trent are the same group, so it's unsurprising that the latter is told to plug the former. However the email could of been written so much better. How about:

Hi Matt,

Our mates at Classic FM are really proud of their new CD, Feel Good. They sent us an early copy and it certainly does what it says on the box, even the cover made me smile. And you know how hard that is.

Well, they're very keen that we tell you about it and have encouraged us by throwing in some National Trust Family Memberships to give away.

You can enter the competition and find out more about the brilliant Feel Good album on our website.

See you tomorrow morning from 6am!

Twiggy.

It's still got the clunky mechanic, but it's got a bit of context about Classic FM's relationship with Trent. It takes away the 'Sample Tracks' reference – what does that mean? You can't listen to the tracks on their website anyway. It also holds the listeners' hand by stating that all the activity can be done on Trent's website – something they should be familiar with. Also i'd write the email as if it was from a presenter (again, that trust thing), in their style and connect it to programming by mentioning the show that they're on. Surely that's better than sending generic marketing coming from an anonymous 'Trent FM'?

There was, however, a really good email from XFM (a different part of the same group) that I received this morning. Look at the difference -it's personable, short and even adds a bit of jeopardy – a short time to enter. It would be fascinating to see the difference in click thru rates, as I bet the one from XFM is off the scale.

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