“Viral.” It’s a word often heard these days, usually associated with YouTube videos that suddenly attract an obscene number of views, perhaps even throwing people in the videos into celebrity status. We all know where Justin Bieber started from screaming preteen girls. Christina Perri (“Jar of Hearts” and “A Thousand Years”) started out as Lovemspenny on YouTube, performing covers. And there was Rebecca Black, who gave the chills (I didn’t say it was all all right celebrity).

Singing is probably not the best way to launch your business to stardom (unless your business is yourself and you’re a singer). In this article, we’ll look at five other types of videos your business could make that will attract and engage your potential customers.

1. How-to videos. A big part of online marketing right now is reassuring your potential customers that you are an expert at what you do. You could just tell them, but it would be far more effective to display them. Let’s say you own a local restaurant. You could have a set of how-tos for common cooking tips (how to boil eggs, how to make pizza dough, how to make something else related to the style of food you sell) and include who you are in your video notes. and where you work with a link to your website.

2. Demos. If you are trying to sell software, a quick demo can be effective, especially when added to your website. Maybe people have visited your site and thought your software looked too complicated. A proper demo or pre-recorded webinar could ease their worries and give them the confidence to try your product for themselves.

3. Commercial. Okay, this one may seem obvious, but there is a certain finesse to having a YouTube commercial (like a video, not an actual sponsored ad). The key is to make the commercial stand out, whether through humor or shock or amazement. Example: Old man of spices. Enough talk.

4. Presentations. Sometimes no words are needed to get your message across. Well, no spoken words. A video presentation with animated text and images with music, like this one on Social Media Revolution, can be very powerful.

5. Testimonials. One of the best ways to gain the trust of your potential customers is to ensure success with current or former customers. Random dating on their website is fine, but with video, they can see and relate to real, live people.

YouTube is not the only way to post marketing videos on the web. There are other programs that you can use to create videos and add them to your website or blog, and there are many companies that you can hire to make a marketing video for you. Either way, using videos to market your business is something that should not be overlooked. Who knows, maybe your company could have the next “viral” video on the web!