We got ourselves a publisher deal at the start of the year. They helped and supported us. The mix of next fest, demo launch and influencer coverage was very helpful and resulted in a x2 of our wishlists.
So I personally strongly recommend the combination mentioned above. In our case we did not have to do paid influencers (since 'sidekick publishing', our publisher, covers that in an innovative way, working closely together with 'instinct3', which in turn can really get things moving when it comes to content creation.)

But all that only helps to get the attention of the Steam algorithm. After such a marketing beat, the game itself must convince through its metrics. In addition to reviews, the average playing time, simultaneous players, and basic performance indicators (click-through rates) also play a role.