No doubt youve seen a lot of remarkable products and services out there, so you know there are many different potential ways to achieve this.

Most companies, though, are reluctant to explore ideas for becoming remarkable, because they are afraid of trying something new.

To succeed, you must overcome this fear, because there is no place for boring products in the modern market. In a crowded marketplace, not standing out is equivalent to being invisible.

Consider the Buick: It has always been a boring car, where the manufacturer has clearly opted not to take any risks with the design. Consequently, it has never sold particularly well.

To illustrate the importance of standing out, whatever your field, consider the example of Andrew Weil. He attended Harvard Medical School, where the goal for most students was to become the best doctor around. But Weil chose a different path than his peers: he challenged the medical establishment by combining conventional and alternative medicine a field often discredited by the medical establishment. The bold choice paid off, and he has helped hundreds of thousands of people through his clinics, writing and presentations.

Another popular but poor strategy for businesses is follow the leader; emulating the actions of the leaders in the field. But this strategy will never make you a leader yourself.

This is because the leaders likely attained their success by taking risks and creating something exceptional. If you merely imitate this, you will not be remarkable.

Companies who choose this strategy inevitably fail in the long run, because their market is bound to change sooner or later, at which stage theyll be trapped as they wont have any experience in trying out new things.

Just consider the music industry: For a long time, record companies just mimicked each other, producing near-identical products, with similar labelling, packaging, etc. But when the technological landscape changed, spawning, for example, online music stores, the record companies felt trapped because they had no experience in dealing with change.