This forum is the biggest place for the bitcoin/crypto users to gather than any other forum in the internet. Getting your project exposed to these people is the starting point before going to fintech expos and all that.

I think your post confuses between effectiveness of marketing via bounty and awarding participants. I am tell you that effectiveness of marketing is good but even better if you are going in through signature campaigns (bitcoin paying) because bounty campaigns (altcoin/token paying) generate a lot of noise and spam.

Obviously the past has been a record for successful campaigns and you can talk to the campaign managers who have been working here for years to get an idea about the same.