Book App Discoverability Demystified: It begins with a good product and understanding your target audience

Relying solely on reviews and web buzz for a new app is unlikely to lead to success, Cavnar said. "You have to have an audience and a base. You have to have that beginning of something to alert them when you get this done."

Daisy Kline, VP of marketing and branding at Scholastic Media, also noted the importance of working through existing audiences. "Play to your strengths," she said. For Scholastic, "the foundation of our business is the school-to-home connection—parent to teacher to child … [the question is] how does that thing work?" Understanding customer needs and dynamics and where app products should fit in is critical to success, she said.