My Groupon post yesterday dealt with potential pitfalls for business owners considering the use of Groupon as a marketing strategy.  I referred to couponing as the crack cocaine of advertising because of the quick hit nature and the fade effect…thus the need to increase frequency of use.

Interestingly enough, Seth Godin penned an article this morning (High Margins, Groupon and the magic basket for price differentiators) on how you could use Grouponing without conditioning customers to be price shoppers.  Seth calls this the magic basket:

And the magic basket? Tim Ferriss just finished offering more than $1600 worth of high-margin items in a basket to people who bought 30 copies of his new book. The marketing partners get trial among a group of people who are each paying more than the cost of a single item in the basket, these customers are proving they’re not among the ultra-cheap. And the products are quasi-aligned, appealing to the same sort of consumer. Is there a cheaper way for one of these companies to reach this precise person? I’m not sure there is.

Imagine taking this even further and leaving out the book part. A basket of aligned items, all high margin, none from the market dominator, each holding out the possibility of future business… You could do this with an 8 pack of computer games or phone apps, or drink coupons from a dozen bars in the same town, or even clothing for guys size 38. Alex has experimented with this at Swagapalooza. I’m betting that there’s quite a lot to be done in becoming this market creator/differentiator/middleman.

Seth also comments on the inability to collect data as a key missing ingredient. He also suggests that despite the inability to collect data this method of advertising could be an opportune way to develop a community. Read Seth’s full article here.

Like opportunity, new ideas are always lurking around us.  It all depends on whether we are open to receiving them.  Seth Godin came out with a nice piece on how to turn on the idea machine.  I believe humans by nature are creative types driven by ideas…without ideas imagine what we wouldn’t have today: Fire, The Wheel, Flight, Medicine and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, for the vast majority of us the idea machine has been turned off.  Why? because we’re fed almost everything to the point where we don’t have to think for ourselves….I’ve seen teenagers unable to make change!

Want to start making a difference?  Try turning the idea machine back on.  See below for Seth’s post on where ideas come from.

Where do ideas come from?

1. Ideas don’t come from watching television
2. Ideas sometimes come from listening to a lecture
3. Ideas often come while reading a book
4. Good ideas come from bad ideas, but only if there are enough of them
5. Ideas hate conference rooms, particularly conference rooms where there is a history of criticism, personal attacks or boredom
6. Ideas occur when dissimilar universes collide
7. Ideas often strive to meet expectations. If people expect them to appear, they do
8. Ideas fear experts, but they adore beginner’s mind. A little awareness is a good thing
9. Ideas come in spurts, until you get frightened. Willie Nelson wrote three of his biggest hits in one week
10. Ideas come from trouble

Plus 10 more at Seth’s Blog.