This is true–that even great products typically require a highly strategic and organized marketing program to meet their potential in terms of awareness and adoption. However, I am increasingly convinced that Maidsafe gets this. For example, I believe Maidsafe recently made some specific marketing hires, which I believe signals an important pivot from “supply side” operations (i.e., building Safenet) to “demand side” operations (i.e., deploying Safenet).
It isn’t one-size-fits-all when it comes to what makes a marketing program succesful. Marketing strategy (i.e., what you say, how you say it, when you say it, where you say it, and to who) needs to be targeted to the consumer/customer and fitted to the product. I am curious to see what Maidsafe’s marketing team comes up with. In the meanwhile, perhaps you should checkout the “Preparing a Coordinated Marketing Campaign” thread. Grassroots, word of mouth marketing from brand/product advocates is one of the most powerful and impactful marketing media and tools.