Marketing is a game of data collection, analysis, timing, strategy, developing communication channels, and constant feedback. Generally speaking the C-level sets the high level business goals and then determines via collaboration with the CMO what messages need to be communicated, to whom, how to broadcast, the metrics defining success, and what type of feedback systems will be integrated into the campaign. In terms of a product launch, you also have the dual task of branding and differentiation from competitors.
Some of the core challenges facing bitshares is that the marketing team needs to concurrently manage communication about development progress, changes in the social contracts established via angelshares and protoshares, expectation management for released features, differentiate features from other ecosystems like counterparty and nxt as well as increase overall sustainable network population and participation. Not really an easy task; however, it's been further complicated by some idiotic desire to increase bitshare's market cap. This frankly is a vanity metric that has nothing to do with the long term health of the bitshares ecosystem.
Rather one ought to ask what problems does bitshares fundamentally solve, are these problems easy to understand, and is it easy to integrate new members into the community? Also who are the core customer segments you want to adopt bitshares? Saying everyone is a non-answer. There is always a primary target market for every product regardless of how big or small it happens to be. Where do these customers live? How do they communicate and consume information? Who are the key leaders in their communities they have trusted relationships with? I hear things like 'let's get person XYZ into our community because they have a big following..." It's only a valid approach iff this person is a key leader in the particular community you want to integrate.
Furthermore, what happens when things go wrong? When deadlines are missed? Software quality is substandard? Forks and countermovements occur? Who is responsible for managing the crisis and how will they approach these duties? You guys currently have two very different communities with one being an american, libertarian white man 20-35 demographic and the other being chinese with somewhat different politics and goals. How do you manage the needs of each? Recent events show how that can go wrong and how quickly bad information can spread and impact the health of the ecosystem.
A real marketing team asks these questions and then negotiates a plan with the executive team and is held publicly accountable to some set of metrics. Second, with all open source projects and social networks, marketers always try to develop and empower surrogates to vastly increase the virality of the network. What incentives do you currently have to spread bitshares outside of price appreciation? What if someone is bitshares poor, but loves the community and ideas? What incentives does he have to spread the network outside of part time passion?
Finally, when a person has issues, who listens and how are they reached? Forums are universal echo chambers that are easy to ignore and easy to pander. Can stakeholders get better accountability through other means and who's responsible for managing that process?
I feel that if bitshares had the ethereum marketing team instead, we wouldve surpassed bitcoin already.
Well you did from July to October
Levity aside, every project has a different growth curve and marketing demands. Ethereum is a fundamentally different project from Bitshares and it's not fair to equate the two. They solve different problems.