We have all heard of Blogs, Payment Gateways, Video sharing sites et al. However, there are so many businesses online that are making huge profits with ideas that not many people would think of.

The most popular one, which ideally wouldn’t be a ‘business’ was the infamous ‘Save Toby’ story. We had a nation donating hundreds and thousands of dollars, all to save a rabbit! The guy did make money, but let’s talk ‘businesses’ per se.

Stranded outside your house at 4 AM and don’t have your keys? Don’t worry…It’s NewyourKey to the rescue! Yes, that’s exactly what they do. For a minimum of $20, you can deposit your key with them. And if you lose your key or forget it, just give them a call and they’ll deliver it at your doorstep.

Alex Tew, a 21 year old kid wanted to sponsor his education. He went ahead and started the now famous “milliondollarhomepage” which actually did make a million bucks. He simply sold every pixel on the site for a dollar. With increasing traffic, the visitors multiplied, and so did the rush to get a ‘pixel’ on the “milliondollarhomepage”.

Then there are a few which never seem to amuse people. They’ve made money, however. At “Bag Borrow or Steal” you can look chic and fashionable by sporting the most expensive branded handbags, without actually buying them! So the next time you go for that college prom, don’t worry about what handbag you’ll carry. Simply call Bag Borrow or Steal. If that was funny, there’s more. Tom Taylor charges approximately $65 an hour to – hold your breath – teach college kids how to play video games. Catherine Keane, the owner of Hungry Pod, makes over $100,000 a year, uploading music on other people’s iPods.

And the one that steals the show is….Amazing Butterflies. What started of as a $100 bet for Jose Muñiz, turned into a million dollar company. When his friend bet him that he couldn’t sell butterflies, that’s exactly what he went ahead and did. You can make your wedding, birthday, anniversary or any special occasion even more memorable with beautiful butterflies all around. (Am surprised people actually call for butterflies though)

The guru of marketing, Philip Kotler defines marketing simply as ‘meeting needs profitably’. However, there is so much effort, planning and strategy that go into achieving this. A recent book titled ‘Beyond Disruption’ praises companies such as Apple, Sony and TAG Heuer for achieving exponential sales growth despite being in established, but stagnant markets. So what is it that organizations world over are doing to increase sales, year after year? Obviously, they all have their own unique strategies, but a common thread that runs through all is a tremendous understanding of the market demographics.

National populations vary in their age mix. At one end is Mexico and India, with an extremely young and growing population. The other extreme is Japan, a country with one of the world’s oldest populations. So while milk and diapers would be extremely important products in Mexico, Japan would prefer many more adult products.

On the whole, there is a global trend towards an aging population. According to a survey in the Economist, more people will grow old in this century than ever before. If that’s not indication enough, check this out: In 2005, the population of people aged 60 surpassed the proportion of under fives, and there are unlikely to ever be more toddlers than seniors. Is it the start of what the Japanese called The Silver Century”? I certainly think so.

In most countries, women are not having enough babies to replace those who die. (Can’t say that about India and China though ). In fact, 2002 was the first year since the Baby Boomer (1946) in which American women produced enough babies to sustain the birth rate. The last wave of baby boomers has turned forty. Research shows that half of them are depressed that they are turning older, and one in every five are actively resisting the aging process. That explains the boom in the hair replacement, health club memberships, skin tightening creams et al sectors.

What’s the positive of this?

The baby boomers will be passing on the torch to the next generation, called echo boomers (born between 1977 and 1994). The echo boomers – almost 72 million in number – are almost equal to the baby boomers. And they are still growing! The distinguishing factor of this age group is their fluency and understanding of the digital medium. For them, internet products and online advertising is as good as any other traditional means of marketing. For this reason, Don Tapscott has called them “Net-Gens”.

It’s not surprising then, that all major brands now have a special budget and marketing plan dedicated to the online medium. More on online marketing next time…