Dude, I think you have some excellent ideas and I'm definitely heeding your words when I get around to recording a promo, but I have a slight argument against a marketing budget sort of thing.

First, I think as geeks (let's all admit we are), we are painfully aware of product placement and trying to be "sold" something. For a game that is free, I just don't think creating a marketing budget to make CF a more commercial commodity is the way to go in this day and age.

My personal hero, Scott Sigler, gave his books away for free, podcasted his novels for free, and promoted himself. Very, very small budget, if any. He didn't ask for donations or anything along those lines. He got such a following by doing what he did that he was picked up by a major publisher and his latest book (which he also gave away free in PDF format and is podcasting) just hit the New York Times bestseller list.

You wrote:
"So yes, some things can be done free of charge - but you get what you pay for when it comes to marketing. Ultimately to, as you say "effectively", market CF you need to have at least a small budget (for PPC at least, website stuff etc.) and you need to have access to some statistics that there are currently no ways for me to get. "

I still think that as a free retro-style game, we should be rely on the viral marketing aspect of it while maintaining a feeling of "We, who love to play this game, are volunteering our time to make this." Zero marketing budget. Post YouTube videos, make podcasts and promos, blog about it, Twitter it, Myspace friend people and say "Hey man, try out this game." Start a meetup.com group. Take pictures and put them on flickr. Link up to the site on your own website. Dude, there's a lot that can be done that no one wants to even attempt, and it can all be done without traditional expensive marketing strategies.