does it make more sense to promote projects that are already trading over those that are not listed on exchange yet?
It makes more sense to do that than promoting projects not listed. What if the projects does not list after you have finished promoting them, what happens? There is the danger of the managers of this projects not releasing rewards to those who helped them promote it. This projects often turn to scam because they do not have anything to loose. After all they are not real and not also in the market.