I mean, I might as well be trying to sell scientology
That is a more valid comparison than you think.
Any technology that enables personal freedom is ALWAYS hard to sell because:
a) Like DASH, scientology is only a tool, and requires hard work and dedication to actually better your situation. Most people want to buy the means to be LAZY, not to be productive. Socialism and centralization are always easy to sell because people are afraid of personal responsibility and would rather get free stuff and let other people make decisions for them.
b) You're constantly fighting against propaganda. The establishment sees these tools as a threat because they enable individuals to become more independantly strong, which lessens their power. Thus, a freedom-oriented technology is always bombarded by a litany of establishment-funded nasty smear campaigns. See stan.distortion's excellent post on this just a page or two back.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/anndash-dash-dashorg-first-self-funding-self-governing-crypto-currency-421615The powers that be are well-served by keeping their populace unarmed, irresponsible and uder-educated about personal liberty. If anything new comes up that threatens their well being, you can count on them demonizing it, making it pretty much impossible to sell.
Pretty much all you can do is build the tool and make it readily accessible for free-thinking people who do their own research instead of dismissing it based on propaganda. The number of bitcoin outsiders who think cryptocurrency is purely an evil tool for terrorists and drug dealers and pornographers is gradually shrinking, just as the number of scientologists is gradually growing.
You can't effectively market to the masses because they've already drunk the uber-delicious establishment coolaid, but if you make your tool the best it can be so that when people actually try it with an open mind and see its benefit, the "follower" types will eventually get curious and learn for themselves.