Yes it would’ve, because nobody would’ve know about it.

Had Silk Road and Wikileaks not existed, or Roger Ver, Voorhees or Antonopolous to evangelise in the early days - bitcoin would’ve disappeared.

The very fact that businesses sprouted up, people discussed it, and entire communities of evangelists emerged is what got bitcoin the attention it needed to develop economic mass.

There’s no way around effective marketing and messaging. 

 You still can't buy anything other than fiat. 

 That’s not entirely true. But it is mostly true 

 Those tools existed because there was an organic demand. Silk road didn't market Bitcoin. Bitcoin fulfilled a market need. 

The people you listed were all altruistic and not really marketing. More like deciples. Too bad some of them fell off the deep end.