The following is the second post in a series of the best-of from students in Mike Sweeney’s Georgetown School of Continuing Studies Interactive Marketing class.  The following  post is by Teresa Mannix, Director of Media Relations at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

As someone who works in the area of communications, I’m acutely aware of marketing and branding when I see it. However, outside of our profession, do people really take a step back to process the 3,000 or so marketing messages they see each and every day?

There are traditional ads; the ones that we have been trained to recognize as sales pitches. We see them in newspapers, on the radio and television, in the Metro, as Internet banners, as pop-ups, and so on.

But, did you ever stop to think about why your alma mater wants you to buy a branded sweatshirt? Or why your new car comes with a license plate frame with the dealer’s name on it? It’s so that you become a walking/driving billboard for their product – and you pay them for the privilege.

These tactics have been around for years and are transparent when you stop to think about them. However, with the rapid acceleration of online technology, marketing has become much more sophisticated – and covert – in the digital arena.

Today, instead of websites simply pushing out information to consumers, they also collect information, and use it to market to them. For example, Amazon.com tracks its visitors, monitors what they are searching for, tailors product recommendations to fit individual tastes, and even sends customized e-mails about products they might like to purchase.

And Amazon is not alone. Companies that email ads or other messages track who opened it, how long they viewed it, and what they clicked on. Marketers use a smart phone’s  GPS to determine its location and suggest stores and restaurants in the area or even send a coupon or information about the latest sales. Sites like Google and Facebook target advertising based on a person’s search terms or profile.

While digital marketing continues to walk a fine line with individual privacy, the advances in interactive marketing also bring more power to the consumer. New technologies have opened up lines of communication between companies and consumers, giving individuals a greater voice. Word-of-mouth marketing has always been valuable, and now consumers can spread their “likes” – and dislikes – through product reviews, Facebook posts, tweets, blogs, and more.

As technology continues to make marketing more targeted, cost-efficient, and fast-paced, consumers are likely to continue to receive thousands of marketing messages each day. Consumers also may find that their newfound voice only gets stronger. The challenge will be for companies to cut through the noise, respect privacy boundaries, and think outside of the traditional marketing box to remain competitive, and come up with the online marketing equivalent of the college sweatshirt.

About the Author: A ten-year veteran of higher education communications, Teresa Mannix currently is the Director of Media Relations at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.