Just my 2 Cents: Let's assume someone makes the step from his or her say bridge cam to a interchangeable lens cam. Some of this people simply don't put Pentax on their list, because they don't know much about it. Two attempts of explanation:
1. When you enter a consumer oriented electronic store with washing machines, TVs, and a few cams, you most likely won't see Pentax
2. As far as I see it, Pentax is doing almost nothing to make Pentax some kind of a lifestyle product. Other brands do it! To me marketing means that you have a certain kind of feeling when you buy a product - besides the specs!
A few years ago Olympus created a place they called "Photographic Playground", where they gave you an Olympus OM-D and sent you in an old industrial hall with some fancy light installations oder other cool things. Every cam would have made good pictures there , but you came home with a good feeling. I was already a loyal Pentax shooter at that time, but I must confess that this impressed me. I was definitely checking specs and prices of Oly cams.
Bottom line: Pentax needs a certain "Coolness" of "Feeling" - but wait, being the underdog is a feeling too, isn't it?