Interview with Margot Austin

I had a total fangirl moment in this episode as I had the opportunity to interview Margot Austin of AustinSmyth Communications!

In this episode, Margot and I chat all about getting published, what it means to get published in print, and the value of leveraging multiple touchpoints to attract your ideal client.

Margot Austin is a Toronto-based interiors stylist and partner in AustinSmyth Communications, a boutique agency helping interior designers and design brands level up their communications and get noticed. Margot also works with a select few clients per year on residential design projects. Margot's love of design grew during her early career as a magazine journalist, including 15 years in senior roles at Style at Home and House & Home. She's an avid DIYer and divides her time between Toronto, Northumberland County, and a tiny cottage on PEI (when it's safe and permitted!), along with her husband, Kevin, an antique dealer, and French bulldog, Pixie.

Through the episode, Margot goes into depth about the things you should focus on to grow your brand and reach especially when you're starting out. She also explains how through her various career opportunities and changes she has come to fully understand the power of telling stories with pictures and words. She has been on all sides of print publishing, from having her home on the front cover to being the editor of multiple magazines to seeing her clients' work featured in print.

Being published in a print magazine is not only about showing your work off to the public, it's about telling a special story, making your client the main character with an issue and you as the designer are the hero with the solution. Margot explains that getting an editorial in a magazine is like handing off your work to professional storytellers who understand the magic of a great story and will maximize it to not get a high readership but also to attract your ideal client.

Margot further goes onto explain that the avenue in which you choose to focus on regarding PR, is dependent on your goals. You need to reach people where they are going to be. Getting published in a magazine is just one outlet for one goal, but there is a lasting quality to getting on a magazine.

Words of wisdom from Margot Austin

 People need to believe in themselves and not so much look at their peers. Look within yourself, and think about your best client-designer relations and how you can replicate that in the future.

Never stop learning or being inspired by doing something new - you'll rejuvenate yourself, your business, and your creativity.

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You can find Margot at margotsmyth.com, margotaustin.ca, on Instagram as @austinsmythcommunications or @margotaustin, and on clubhouse and TikTok at @margotdoironaustin.

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