I think maybe that those who invested in bitshares earier have just kept their money there... Not sure.
It could also just be that Steem is getting negative PR due to its.. well.. total lack of any organised PR and apparent long term stagnation.
I have raised the issue of the lack of marketing many times and been met by a brick wall of no response. Quite sad really. @promo-steem do good work and have made good connections though, it seems it is all up to us.
I hear you. Again I am not really sure why. I'd like to think that it has to do with not having a finished product yet, but many of these projects aren't "finished" yet, but still they get promoted. I sincerely hope the plan is heavily market/promote when the time is right.