Affiliate and directory sites are often dismissed by higher ed marketers — but should they be? In this episode we unpack why these channels have historically driven meaningful traffic for schools, what tracking data reveals about their real influence on inquiries and enrollment, and why performance-pressured marketers tend to overlook them. We walk through what modern affiliate and directory partnerships actually look like in practice, how prospective students use these sites during their research, and why schools should stay open to the opportunities they present in today's enrollment funnel.

Chapters:
00:01 - Introduction & The Affiliate Fraud Myth
01:21 - Welcome to ROI University
02:05 - Early Experience: Lead Gen for Schools (2008–2009)
04:45 - The 20% Stat: How Students Really Find Schools
05:13 - Evaluating Affiliate & Directory Partners
07:10 - How Directory Sites Were Built & How They Work
10:31 - Affiliate Sites as Awareness Touchpoints in the Funnel
16:14 - Stay Open-Minded on New Channels & Final Takeaway

In this episode, Rustam Irani shares a leadership lesson that fundamentally changed how he approaches trust, relationships, and marketing. Through a personal story of working first as a higher education marketing leader and later from the agency side, he explores what happens when relationships turn out to be transactional rather than genuine. Rustam breaks down five lessons he's learned about building authentic professional relationships, protecting generosity without becoming cynical, and why the same principles of trust apply directly to higher education marketing. Ultimately, he argues that lasting enrollment success begins with becoming the kind of person—and organization—that people genuinely want to trust.

• 00:00 – A personal story about trust, leadership, and seeing both sides of the vendor-client relationship
• 03:18 – The tables turn: experiencing rejection after moving to the agency side
• 04:45 – Why genuine relationships reveal themselves over time
• 06:01 – Lesson 1 & 2: Recognizing transactional relationships while protecting your generosity
• 08:44 – Lesson 3: Doing due diligence before extending trust
• 09:20 – Lesson 4: Why deep relationships outperform large networks
• 11:06 – Lesson 5: Applying trust-building principles to higher education marketing
• 12:05 – Final recap: The five trust tests every leader should remember

Episode Overview

In this episode, Rustam Irani sits down with Will McDonald, Executive Vice President of Admissions at Academy of Art University, to explore what effective admissions leadership looks like in today's higher education landscape. Drawing on more than two decades of enrollment experience, Will shares why the strongest institutions treat marketing and admissions as one unified student recruitment team, how leaders can build high-performing admissions organizations, and why staying connected to the student experience is more important than any dashboard or technology. They also discuss where AI can genuinely improve admissions operations—and where the human element remains irreplaceable.

• LinkedIn — William McDonald (mentioned as the best place to connect with Will)

• 00:00 – Introduction to Will McDonald and the importance of admissions and marketing alignment
• 01:58 – Will's leadership journey, football background, and lessons from Howard Schnellenberger
• 05:05 – How admissions has changed over the past 20 years and the growing complexity of student decision-making
• 08:45 – Building effective admissions processes while keeping the student—not the transaction—at the center
• 12:48 – Why marketing and admissions should function as one unified department with shared KPIs
• 17:02 – Building admissions teams, hiring for coachability, and staying connected to frontline staff
• 21:58 – The promise and limitations of AI in admissions, including automation and re-engagement strategies
• 27:24 – Leadership advice for new admissions directors and the importance of focusing on people, process, and performance
• 31:16 – Final takeaway: Stay plugged into the student experience by listening to students and frontline teams

In this episode, Rustam Irani explores a growing challenge facing higher-ed enrollment teams: declining contact rates despite steady inquiry volume. Drawing from conversations with multiple institutions across different program types and regions, he unpacks why traditional explanations like lead quality and staffing may no longer tell the full story. Rustam examines how changing communication preferences, AI-driven outreach, caller screening technology, and increasing digital noise are reshaping student engagement—and what marketers can do to adapt.

• 00:00 - 01:20 | The Contact Rate Problem Rustam introduces the growing trend of declining contact rates across multiple institutions and program types.
  
• 01:21 - 05:12 | Investigating the Root Causes Analysis of historical data, common assumptions about lead quality and staffing, and emerging external factors affecting outreach success.
  
• 05:13 - 06:52 | Why Context Matters More Than Ever The importance of multi-channel communication, setting expectations, and giving prospects context before outreach occurs.
  
• 06:53 - 08:50 | Speed-to-Lead and Operational Fundamentals Why rapid response times, proper caller ID setup, and communication sequencing can improve engagement.
  
• 08:51 - 10:51 | Personalized Follow-Up and Alternative Engagement Channels Tailoring messaging to student goals and exploring live chat experiences as an alternative to phone-based engagement.
  
• 10:52 - 13:29 | Understanding the Modern Student Reality Examining the noise, distractions, responsibilities, and emotional circumstances prospects face when they inquire.
  
• 13:30 - 15:58 | From Contact Rates to Meaningful Engagement Reframing the KPI conversation from answered phone calls to meaningful engagement and student intent, followed by practical action items for marketers.
  

• Declining contact rates are increasingly influenced by external factors, not just lead quality or enrollment operations.
• Students are screening more calls and have more communication choices than ever before.
• Multi-channel communication (text, email, phone, chat) is becoming essential for creating context and trust.
• Speed-to-lead remains important, but relevance and consistency across touchpoints matter just as much.
• Higher-ed marketers should shift their focus from improving contact rates alone to creating meaningful engagement experiences that align with how students want to interact.

In this episode, Rustam Irani breaks down the concept of a university’s “brand signal zone” — the geographic radius where a school’s reputation, awareness, and trust actually influence enrollment behavior. Using years of campaign data and real-world examples, he explains why most institutions dramatically overestimate how far their brand reaches, and how enrollment marketers can use geographic insights to build smarter campaigns, lower acquisition costs, and uncover hidden opportunities for growth. He also explores how local trust, specialized programs, and strategic partnerships shape enrollment performance across different distance bands.

• 00:00 – Why universities overestimate brand awareness
  Rustam introduces the idea that many institutions believe their reputation extends far beyond where the data actually shows influence.
• 01:13 – The “driving distance” enrollment reality
  Discussion around the statistic that 67% of undergraduates enroll within driving distance of home and why proximity still matters.
• 02:20 – The Power Zone (0–25 miles)
  Exploration of the strongest geographic enrollment radius and how local events, alumni presence, and community partnerships reinforce trust.
• 04:16 – The Middle Ring (25–100 miles)
  How brand recognition begins to fade and why program-specific marketing becomes critical in this zone.
• 06:17 – University of Alaska case study
  A breakdown of how unique regional strengths can successfully expand a school’s reach beyond its immediate market.
• 08:56 – The Outer Ring (100+ miles)
  Why enrollment conversion rates sharply decline at greater distances and what schools must offer to compete nationally.
• 09:54 – The “Harvard of our area” mindset
  Rustam shares a story about a university leader who struggled to accept that their institution lacked national brand recognition.
• 12:07 – Using enrollment and analytics data to map brand resonance
  Practical ways marketers can identify geographic performance zones using CRM, application, CPC, and enrollment data.

• RGI AEO Dashboard - https://aeo.rgiconsulting.net/leadsquared/

• 00:00 – 01:23 — How prospective students are using AI tools to research colleges and programs before ever visiting a school website
• 01:24 – 03:05 — The four core metrics schools must track in AI search: visibility, share of voice, citation rate, and sentiment
• 03:06 – 05:32 — Why some schools are seeing lower inquiry volume but higher application and enrollment quality
• 05:33 – 06:50 — The SEO and authority fundamentals that still matter in the LLM era
• 06:51 – 08:14 — The new kinds of nuanced student questions appearing inside AI search tools
• 08:15 – 10:22 — How AI visibility dashboards and citation analysis help schools identify content opportunities
• 10:23 – 11:56 — The importance of reputation, transparency, partnerships, and consistent messaging in AI-generated results
• 11:57 – 15:12 — Why schools don’t need massive budgets to compete in AI search—and what they actually need instead

In this episode, Rustam Irani sits down with SEO expert Julian Hooks to unpack the growing confusion around declining traffic, AI’s impact on search, and what higher-ed marketers should actually focus on right now. Together, they cut through the hype around AEO, GEO, and LLMs, revealing that while the discovery landscape is shifting, the fundamentals of SEO—and great marketing—are still the foundation. The conversation explores how user behavior is evolving, why attribution is getting harder, and how marketers can adapt without abandoning what already works.

• RGI AEO Dashboard - https://aeo.rgiconsulting.net/

• 00:00 – The Problem: Traffic and conversions are declining despite doing “everything right” in SEO
• 01:00 – Meet Julian Hooks: 20 years in SEO and deep experience in higher ed marketing
• 04:00 – Is SEO Dead?: Why AI isn’t replacing SEO but reshaping how discovery works
• 08:00 – AEO vs GEO vs SEO: Breaking down the terminology and what actually matters
• 10:30 – The Attribution Problem: Why AI-driven traffic is hard to measure (but still impactful)
• 13:00 – New Signals to Watch: Direct traffic, branded search, and behavioral shifts
• 15:30 – AEO Measurement Framework: Visibility, share of voice, citation rate, and sentiment
• 22:00 – How to Prioritize Efforts: 80–85% fundamentals vs 15–20% AI-specific adjustments
• 25:00 – Content Strategy Shift: Don’t abandon long-form—just surface answers faster
• 28:00 – Why Traffic Is Down: LLMs are capturing top-of-funnel informational queries
• 31:00 – Higher Intent Users: Fewer visitors, but stronger conversion and engagement
• 32:00 – Final Advice: Think holistically, focus on fundamentals, and build a great product/experience