From where I sit, as the owner of a copywriting agency dealing with clients on a daily basis, it seems a lot of companies write their own marketing materials for two reasons: to save money, and because they don’t realize the value in really great copy. But as I’ve been pondering this lately, I’ve been thinking maybe it’s an even bigger problem. Maybe it’s not just that they don’t recognize the damage they’re doing by using mediocre marketing. Maybe these marketers lack awareness, not knowledge.

I recently joined the advisory board for the University of Washington marketing certificate program. One of the board’s tasks this year is to help the university plan for a new program specifically for interactive marketing. We had our first meeting on the topic last week and were asked to brainstorm ideas around certain questions to help determine the outcome of the program. In addition to having a blast being in a room full of such incredibly bright and highly regarded marketers, I was intrigued to find out that—at my table at least—we pretty much agreed that it wasn’t that these people had to be taught how to run a pay-per-click campaign, how to use search engine optimization, how to run an A/B test, or any other particular skill, but they do need to learn what is possible. They must be made aware of all the possibilities in the world of online, interactive marketing first and foremost. And then we agreed that they need to recognize the value in outsourcing and to know how to work with vendors.

These certificate programs are for working professionals with marketing experience, not newbies. Still, all the seasoned experts in my group agreed that it’s more important to make these students aware than it is to give them specific skill sets. In the world of marketing, knowing what’s doable is much more important to an organization than being able to actually do it.

Even for small businesses that don’t have dedicated marketers on staff or the budget to outsource, it’s better to turn to resources like our small business marketing ebook than to guess or stay ignorant.