1. Define your product or service.
This is not a mission statement, be concrete (for example, "We build houses.")

2. Define the market environment for your product or service.

A. For instance, is the market saturated or do you have it to yourself?

B. If the market is competitive, what makes your product or service different? In other words, why should a customer choose your business, product or service over the competition's?

C. How is the competition doing? What factors affect your competition that also will affect you? What factors won't?

3. Define your customer base.

A. Who uses such products or services?

B. Who might use such products or services in the future?

C. Who do you think should be using your product or service? 

D. Where do these customers expect to find your product or service:

Online?
In a store?
Delivered to their home?

4. Set your price.

A. What price do you need to make your desired profit?

B. How much is your customer base willing to pay for your product or service? 

5. Determine how best to appeal to these potential customers.
Does this market respond to:

TV advertising?
Radio advertising?
Promotions and coupons?
Direct mail campaigns?

6. Set goals and develop tactics based on the information you've gathered here.
Tactics would include such decisions as where and when to advertise, and when to have inventory available in a certain market. 

7. Review your progress toward these goals periodically
Experts differ on how often, do whatever makes sense for the cycles of your business or whatever makes you feel that you are maintaining comfortable control of your progress.

A. If you're not meeting goals, you need to:

Determine whether they were realistic to begin with and/or your market research was flawed.
Determine whether market factors have changed since you created your marketing plan.
Find out whether customers are satisfied with your product or service.
Make adjustments based on the new information you gather.    

B. If you're meeting goals, you need to:

Determine what's working well and keep doing it.
Set new goals based on this good performance.