As the Steemit platform continues to grow the discussion of how to market the idea is becoming a hot topic.
Marketing is that tricky balance of how much do we spend and what return we might expect from that investment.
One idea that permeates our debates is using the high traffic of Steemit.com for advertisements.
@knircky has written a good piece on what the financial implications are for funding the growth of Steemit by allowing advertisements on the site.
I agree with Philip that using advertisements on Steemit will not provide an adequate revenue stream. Receiving an estimated 5% of our daily operating budget from ads does not sound appealing considering the aesthetic cost.
Promotion Community
One idea we might consider is supporting the work of folks using the promo-steem and joinsteemit tags.
@stephenkendal has been working tirelessly for a couple months now organizing a global marketing team and the results have been encouraging.
When you look at sites like [http://www.steemittraffic.com](Steem Traffic) you see that the United Kingdom, India, and Nigeria are climbing up the ranks as the communities grow.
The work of folks like @surpassingoogle in the Philippines, @firepower in India, or @fisteganos in Nigeria continue to amaze me.
While the community feature is still to be unveiled from Steemit Inc, something we might consider is having one of those communities specialize in marketing.
Accounts like @steemit and @misterdelegation are already utilizing Steem Power for new projects like DTube, DSound, and Utopian-io. What if we were to use some of the remaining 50 million Steem Power to delegate to people that are marketing in a grass roots manner?
We are in an awkward state in the broader cryptosphere where Google ads or Facebook promotions for cryptocurrencies are no longer viable.
Why fight the system with the old currency when we can invest in our own and incentivize our fellow Steemians?
I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as we work together to solve this need.