I'm not sure how much even a large marketing campaign will help.  I know what bitshares offers yet I'm not using the exchange.  The perception is it's just an exchange w/ newly added bells/whistles.  ETH and MAID aren't being propelled due to marketing.  Instead, they have a compelling story, a fresh identity that's starting to become reality.

For the long-term viability of bitshares, I think we should start creating relationships outside our world.  Sidechains would be the place to start because a collaborative effort is needed anyways to get it to where it's a game-changer for bitshares.  We can initiate an open dialogue with Blockstream.  Why not us post on their forum?  The visibility would be more far-reaching than a take-a-look-at-us approach..

Working relationships would create and open new opportunities for future ideas.  Result:   automatic buzz, a sense that bitshares is working for everybody, great PR.  I can see CNX getting long-term work from it.

This thread just started by JonnyBitcoin is a good start.
https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,21814.0.html

With all of these pending bail-ins and negative interest rates, a decentralized bank is huge. If we just had a BitShares Bank with a sexy front end and some nice on-off ramps i'm sure that in itself would be absolutely huge.

Quote from: lil_jay890 on March 02, 2016, 03:33:34 am

Quote from: Empirical1.2 on March 01, 2016, 09:42:45 pm

I think a key difference is that they and the market are clear on what industry they will dominate in 'The New (Decentralized) World.'

Ethereum     - Decentralized Apps
MaidSafe     - Decentralized Data
Bitcoin          - Decentralized Gold   
Augur           - Decentralized PM (Gambling)     
BitShares    - Decentralized Bank & Exchange

This type of graphic is found on almost every Alt-coin forum... except subtract bitshares and insert other alt-coin.  I was just perusing the nxt forum and saw a very similar graphic.  It just shows that most people know what the top coins will be, but have some false hope that their alt fits in with them.

The Graphic itself is superfluous other than to highlight, that like the New World & The Internet in the early nineties, the decentralised landscape is yet unsettled but has the potential to create large fortunes in and disintermediate multiple existing industries

BitShares has often lacked clarity internally and externally on 'What is BitShares?' However as an investor/speculator I can confidently invest in REP, BTC, ETH & MAID because I and they have clarity which industry they are going to have a monopoly in & are 100% focused on dominating.

Ethereum is currently 60x bigger than BTS, by our own admission nearly every new DAPP will probably be released on there first. While we may like to think Ethereum is Android and we are iPhone, why is Bitcoin still the dominant crypto-currency for 7 years despite it being on an 'Android' blockchain when there are better 'iPhone' blockchains? While there may be multiple DAPPs and third party business frontends on BTS, I don't think at this stage it's credible that BTS is going to dominate the DAPP market or at the very least it won't have a monopoly. So investors/speculators have to ask the question, who will be the big winner in this race, Ethereum or BTS?

However if investors, speculators can say, 'What is the Banking and Exchange Industry worth? Is there a market need for a Decentralized Bank? Who is best suited to, is focusing on & will likely dominate that area?  Then suddenly you're in the mix of DACs that are going to be independently massively successful.

Most agree the potential for SmartCoins is massive, there has never been a greater time in history for them with our current financial and debt based system on the verge of collapse/major transition and we are best placed to dominate it. In fact with a yield subsidy (Self funding and fairly circular cost) and a small liquidity subsidy suddenly we'd become the market leader and clear favourite to dominate that industry virtually overnight.

I like that BTS has the potential for a a lot of third party apps to be built on top of it, some which could disintermediate existing industries in their own right. (Like Augur will disintermediate sports betting but is built on Ethereum.) However it's looking increasingly like ETH is becoming the DAPP market leader & we should at the core focus on delivering the best banking blockchain which our third party Apps and even Ethereum based Apps can inter-connect with.  It's likely imo that the best Banking/SmartCoin Blockchain will become the biggest of them of all. 

As you yourself said....

Quote from: lil_jay890 on December 29, 2015, 12:44:07 pm

I'm just lost at what bitshares is and what we're focused on.  I cant explain it to anyone much less get them to buy something so complex.  I thought we were going to find a niche (like the decentralized exchange) and leverage and exploit that niche.... That is what successful businesses do. They don't go running after every new idea they have without completing their previous one.

I think a key difference is that they and the market are clear on what industry they will dominate in 'The New (Decentralized) World.'

Ethereum     - Decentralized Apps
MaidSafe     - Decentralized Data
Bitcoin          - Decentralized Gold   
Augur           - Decentralized PM (Gambling)     
BitShares    - Decentralized Bank & Exchange

Quote from: mindphlux on March 01, 2016, 11:50:10 am

I believe this is very unintuitive so far.

AGREE.

This is very powerful, but also potentially very dangerous feature.
If we do not want to loose users because of their mistakes... and our bad design, we should improve User Experience of this feature first!