Sort:  

Of course, both are good! There are a ton of benefits to be had by doing both advertising and investing. But it's also important to note that a new user doesn't have to do both in order to build a successful / impactful network here.

Example 1 - Right now you can join and use Steem for free and publish content that in most cases (if it's decent) will get noticed and rewarded. You don't need to invest money in this case. It's just about an investment of time.

Example 2 - If you literally buy a lot of Steem, yes, you could upvote your followers / incentivize them to use your DApp / promote your announcements to the trending page.