The holidays are now behind us and it’s time to start getting to work on your 2009 marketing campaigns . Depending on your business, there are some very important areas of promotion for you to have on your radar in the first quarter of 2009. A few marketing highlights include the Presidential Inauguration, Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, and yes, the beginning of spring in March.

If any of these themes give you a chance to build a promotion for your business, now’s the time to start designing and developing some exciting emails for you to send your customers. Here are a few email marketing tips to help you get started:

1. Make sure your email list is up-to-date. Add any emails you need to include on the list and remove any that have unsubscribed from your previous emails.

2. Make sure you are brand compliant . If you changed anything about your company logo towards the end of 2008, make sure all of your marketing designs, including emails, now include your updated corporate look. Update business cards, Web site, in-store promotional signage, and anything else that reflects your company identity. Consistency is important.

3. Review your lead generation systems to make any necessary changes and updates. If there are new places for you to pull leads from, make sure those are going through your system.

4. Try something new or different in 2009. If you did email marketing in 2008, challenge yourself to do something different in 2009 , like embedding video, podcasts or some new and exciting promotional offers. Always challenge yourself to be even more creative with your emails.

Above all else, take the time to make your email marketing a priority . Momentum is the number one aspect of a successful email marketing campaign throughout the course of the year. And with the slow economy, your customers and potential customers need even more reasons why they should shop with you.

How have you challenged yourself for your 2009 email campaigns?