A Growth Engine for Europe

ArchZone is a personal business, launched by young architect Zoe Antoniadi. When faced with a dwindling number of clients due to the economic downturn, Zoe had to re-think her business model. She bundled her architecture services into tangible, affordable “products” and decided to target specific audiences that would have a need for these products, including office renovators, hotels and homeowners. To support this new offer, she created a website and used AdWords to target potential clients in Athens and the surrounding areas. Her idea worked. Calls and emails started coming in to request information and quotes, and soon Zoe had her hands full with a number of projects. She used to work on one to two projects per year, but this has multiplied significantly, with 99% of her customers coming via the website. Zoe believes her success is due to the fact that the web gives her the chance to show people that an architect is not just a luxury service and that they can be more open to ideas which will upgrade their space. She admits that, “I was seriously thinking of packing it in and leaving Greece to work abroad. It’s thanks to Google that I’m still here and happy.” The success of Archzone is also having longer-term benefits. “I may not have any employees at the moment, but there is a long chain of suppliers that I have brought progressively more business to, and that’s just as good,” says Zoe.