When you hear the word ‘seduction’, what do you think of? Is it a word you fear? One you embrace proudly? Would you ever associate it with your business?

I’m here to share with you how harnessing the art of seduction can not only fire up your marketing strategy but also unleash your inner goddess. This is our mission here at The House of Seductology.

Recently I was interviewed by BrandYOU magazine and I thought it would be great to share with you the interview.

Interview conducted by Olivia Morocco, Editor of Brand YOU Magazine: 

The Interview

Laura Payne-Stanley is a force to be reckoned with; a multiple business owner, qualified NLP master coach, motivational speaker and industry leader, Laura is an enormous inspiration. I’ve followed her for years, but this is the first time I’ve had the chance to really get to know her. Known as LPS for short, her passion in life is empowering entrepreneurs to step into their power in business and in the bedroom to become unstoppable.

A unique mission - and one that certainly grabs your attention. I’m interested; what got her into this field in the first place?

“I first made the jump into entrepreneurship from being in corporate over 13 years ago. My background before starting a business was in marketing and I retrained in neuroscience. When I first started I took copy courses, hired mentors, learnt from the best and there was always something missing.   

“And almost disempowering! 

"Be more you, but not too you." "Be more authentic, but not too sexy." It left me frustrated and it was time to change all this. Because when you combine marketing, with neuroscience and the missing, delicious ingredient of seduction – extraordinary results are achieved and you create a legacy, you love."

This is what Laura does at House of Seductology™. The business combines marketing with neuroscience and seduction; a totally new approach to business empowerment and growth. It focuses on desire and passion - two concepts that far too often are pushed into conversations behind closed doors. But, Laura wants to change that.

"We’ve been conditioned here in the UK to think that something is wrong if we talk about desire, seduction or passion; never to be used in “proper” business models."

This conditioning has meant that we’ve been taught to do business without tapping into these powerful emotions. There is nothing wrong with logical bro-led marketing, but it doesn’t get the same results as desire-led marketing and feels outdated.

Seduction is Power

"Yet, seduction is power. The word originally comes from the middle French meaning “leading aside”."

There is much misunderstanding around the word seduction, as the word itself wasn’t sexualised until the 1500s. 

"Seduction resides in the gut, in the enteric brain, it is a feeling. We can be seduced by people, places and material things."

As a native French speaker, I’m fascinated by the subtle nuances of the English language. As we talk, I find myself drinking in every single word that leaves Laura’s mouth. I’m enthralled by her way of thinking - and her clear success practising seduction within her own business - and I’m intrigued to hear her thoughts on why more people aren’t tapping into its extraordinary energy.

“This comes back to the conditioning that we’ve had.

"Remember, powerful women throughout history who have connected with their internal power have been vilified. The patriarchal narrative sought to crush powerful women with un-logical powers by calling them witches, and by mid 16th century, approximately 90,000 women were formally accused of witchcraft and about half executed.

"It wasn’t until 1891 that it became illegal to slander a female with the Slander of Women Act 1891. This allowed a female plaintiff to take action against slander with words spoken or published.

"For only 130 years have we - as women - had the right to this level of protected freedom. This is relatively new when it comes to not only hinting at but using seduction in our marketing. We can have generational fear around using our skills in this way, especially in certain more traditional industries."

I can feel my excitement building; this is something I want to get on board with, immediately. But how can we put these concepts into practice?

“In order to activate desire, you first must get really clear on what benefits your future clients desire when they are hiring you. This is beyond ideal audience demographics; it is understanding your future client’s psychology. These are their hopes, dreams, fears, goals and values.

"We have to confirm the desire ideation that we are looking to activate. As an example, let’s take a traditional industry of financial advisors. A client might be looking to get their will done, this is the feature of the service they want to hire. However, the desire or the benefit they may want is to feel safe, secure and in trusted hands as they plan for their legacy after they have gone. In this example, you would want to activate the desires for safety, security and trust.

"True desire resides in all 5 senses and great businesses can discreetly activate this desire even when not engaging in traditional marketing. One example of this is Subway – the franchise brand. It is rumoured that when a new franchisee is looking for premises, they specifically look for a building that can enable the vents from the ovens cooking the bread to flow out onto the street, rather than into a back alley.

"Why? Because the smell of baking bread can activate the olfactory and gustatory senses into wanting to consume a delicious warm sandwich!"

Using your Power as a Woman

I’m definitely guilty of making a Subway detour after catching a sniff of those sandwiches - so this makes total sense! My mind shifts back to the role of femininity in seduction. I can’t help but wonder whether this opens up the possibility of reintroducing age-old stereotypes. Laura doesn’t think so; instead, she sees it as an opportunity to step into our innate power as women.

"Femininity in its purest form is the quality of nature of the female sex. I’m a woman, therefore, to use my femininity is to do nothing more than use my powers as a woman. No different to a man using his masculine powers.

"The emotional definition of femininity can be something very different, from floaty dresses to vixen heels, from short crop hair to red lipstick. However, these are all forms of individual expressions of femininity. Some of these forms have become reinforced in the negative throughout social institutions such as media, education, sports and the workforce.

"We as women can decide to reject any age-old stereotype and decide to redefine femininity any way in which we desire. Women are playing a larger role in business with a 10% rise in women on the FTSE 100 boards since 2016, which is resulting in a growing voice in how femininity is represented."

When Laura talks about it, it sounds so simple - and it is, really. Why should we hold back our femininity, just because people - throughout time - have set a bunch of useless, unjustified stereotypes? Surely there’s no greater strength than defining our own sense of femininity? Of embracing it and harnessing it with all our might? Laura agrees, and she also believes that seduction shouldn’t be pigeonholed into female-owned businesses only.

"Just look at Apple - they are one of the icons in using seduction in their marketing. In an industry that was founded on the features of products, the memory, the speed, etc etc, to activate desire was something extremely profound. Steve Jobs understood that technology and product specifications alone were not enough to become an industry leader… That the more human the technology and the marketing becomes, the more intimate we would feel about our technology. The more intimate we felt about our technology, the more it became linked with our personality and we - as a result - would become attached to a brand.

"With the attachment to a commodity-based product, Apple can activate desire whenever they launch a new product or upgrade. It’s why they have customers queuing to get their hands on a new product: this isn’t a logical purchase, it’s the emotion of desire, and the desire to be one of the first consumers for a new product."

It goes without saying that obscene budgets and jaw-dropping turnover help - but Laura is certain that small businesses can also benefit from the pull of seduction.

"Once you know how to engage with your future customers on a psychological level, they will feel like you are talking directly to them. They can connect with that desire that they want to have fulfilled and will take action. This results in lower marketing spend whether time or money, as each social media post, email or call will have a higher return on investment. This works, whatever the size of your business."

Desire Activation

"While I believe that desire isn’t only for high end or luxury goods, there are some services and goods where desire has no impact. If you are looking for an emergency plumber you don’t want to desire them, you just have an urgent requirement that needs an emergency solution.

"That being said for most other products and services there is always a desire to be activated. Even if it is a lower-priced product that your future clients desire because they aspire to one day upgrade to the true brand they desire."

I have to admit - I was a little in awe as our conversation drew to a close (and a smidge overwhelmed by all the things I now wanted to incorporate into my business!). Laura assured me that the biggest hurdle was mindset - and this was something that could be nurtured and adapted. In fact, Laura offers a Masterclass on this subject at the moment, which you can access at: houseofseductology.com/masterclass/

I asked her for her biggest piece of advice when it came to activating a desire mindset and seduction-led marketing.

"Remember: you have the ability and right to create a business in any form that you desire to. However you define femininity to you, is exactly how you should bring it into your business." 

That thing that makes us innately female is your superpower and often missing in business, that is robbing you of income and the success you crave. But we can change that. We can undo conditioning that focuses on burnout and overwhelm, and instead decide to create legacy businesses.