Building a brand by accident

Without quite meaning to, Adaptive has built a brand.

How do I know?

Well, I get email messages like this:

“I am reaching out to make contact as I have come across a few of your listings and think they are right up the lane I am looking for for my upcoming move to Los Angeles. I’ll be relocating from NYC at the end of June and would be looking for a move-in date of July or August 1. “

We didn’t mean to do this… you can tell from our crappy website, which hasn’t been updated since we started the company six years ago.

What happened?

We have a design philosophy that is clearly evident in all of our projects – simple, modern, clean, timeless. It’s not for everyone, but it REALLY appeals to a specific group of relatively affluent prospective tenants who are willing to pay for it.

These prospective tenants browse online and keep finding our listings (because we manage hundreds of similarly renovated units). Eventually, they realize all the units they like come from one company, then they reach out, hoping to get first dibs.

Over time, what began as a one-every-few-months trickle of emails has grown into a multiple-per-week stream, adding meaningfully to our marketing efforts.

Just think what we could do if we ever got around to making a cool website…