Unconventional Marketing Tactics: The Weirdest Ways People Have Made Money Online

byJDenesovych

485 followers

3 months ago

If you think making money online is all about blogging, affiliate links, and digital courses, let me introduce you to the weird side of the internet.

People have built six-figure businesses selling air, sending potatoes with messages, and even renting out imaginary friends.

So while you’re out here optimizing your SEO and checking Google Analytics, someone else just made $10,000 selling jars of farts.

Feeling inspired? Or slightly concerned about humanity? Either way, let’s dive into some of the most bizarre (yet successful) ways people have made money online—and what we, as affiliate marketers, can learn from them.

1. Selling Air from Different Locations

Yes, you read that correctly. Someone literally bottled air and made a business out of it.

• A guy from China started selling "fresh air from the mountains" for $5 a bottle.
• In the UK, someone sold canned British air to tourists in China for $115 per bottle.
• An entrepreneur in Canada started a company called Vitality Air, selling bottled air from the Rocky Mountains—and yes, this made real money.

🚀 Read more: CBC article on Vitality Air’s bottled air sales.

🚀 Lesson for Marketers:
The value isn’t in the product—it’s in the story. Nobody is buying air—they’re buying an experience, a novelty, a connection. If you can craft a compelling "why" behind your product or content, you can sell almost anything.

2. The Potato Parcel Business

Imagine opening your mailbox and finding… a potato with a handwritten message on it.

• Potato Parcel was founded in 2015 and has since made over $1 million.
• You send them a message, and they write it on a potato and mail it.
• Yes, this was a real Shark Tank pitch—and yes, Mark Cuban invested in it.

🚀 Lesson for Marketers:
People love unique, shareable ideas. If your product, service, or content has a novelty factor, people will talk about it—and that’s free marketing.

3. Renting Out Imaginary Friends

Ever felt lonely? Wish you had an imaginary friend? Well, for just $10 a month, you can rent one.

• A website called RentAFriend.com lets people pay for a “virtual friend” to chat with them.
• Another site, InvisibleBoyfriend.com, created fake online relationships for people who wanted to “prove” they had a partner.
• Some entrepreneurs write detailed backstories and sell them as imaginary companions.

🚀 Lesson for Marketers:
The world is full of hyper-specific needs. If you can fill a niche that nobody else is thinking about, you own the market.

4. Selling Pixels on a Website for $1 Each

In 2005, a broke college student needed money for school—so he created The Million Dollar Homepage.

• He sold advertising space on a blank webpage, charging $1 per pixel.
• Companies, marketers, and random people bought up the pixels just to be part of internet history.
• He made $1,037,100 in just a few months.

🚀 Lesson for Marketers:
Scarcity + Creativity = Profit. People love the "first of its kind" ideas, especially when there's limited availability.

5. Selling Jars of Farts (Yes, Really.)

A reality TV star made $200,000 selling jars of her farts online.

• She marketed it as a unique, exclusive experience.
• She even included a handwritten note with each purchase.
• Eventually, she retired because… well, the demand was too high (and eating all those fiber-rich foods was apparently bad for her health).

🚀 Lesson for Marketers:
People will buy anything if the branding is right. Even in affiliate marketing, the way you position a product is just as important as the product itself.

So, What’s the Takeaway Here?

Affiliate marketers often think they have to stick to "traditional" methods—but these weird, successful businesses show that thinking differently is how you stand out.

If someone can make $1M selling potatoes, you can definitely grow a profitable affiliate business.

Three Key Lessons for WA Members:

1️⃣ Creativity beats competition. Instead of competing in a crowded space, find a unique angle or perspective that makes your content different.

2️⃣ People love novelty. The weirder and more interesting your brand, the more shareable it becomes.

3️⃣ Scarcity and exclusivity sell. If you can create urgency, scarcity, or an emotional hook, people are more likely to buy.

So… what’s your “potato parcel” idea? 🚀