Adviser marketing rules apply to every page

Which regime reaches you

Registered investment advisers are subject to the SEC's marketing rule under the Advisers Act.

Reps of broker-dealers fall under FINRA rules on messages to the public. Those set out groups, review steps and records to keep.

Dually registered people can be subject to both. Which applies to a given page is a question for your compliance officer, not for a website tool.

Dually registered people can be subject to both, and which applies to a given page is a question for your compliance officer rather than for a website tool.

The question of which applies is not a website question and should never be answered by a website tool. Your compliance officer decides, and the site follows.

Testimonials and endorsements

The marketing rule permits adviser reviews and endorsements, with limits. Those include saying whether the person is a client and whether they were paid.

Those disclosures usually need to be clear and prominent, which means beside the review rather than in a footer.

Arrangements with people who refer clients bring their own rules. Getting the detail wrong here is costly.

The disclosures generally need to be clear and easy to see, which in practice means beside the review rather than at the foot of the page.

Performance and hypotheticals

How you show returns is tightly specified. That covers net and gross figures, and what must appear alongside them.

Made up performance carries extra conditions, including who it may be shown to. That covers backtested results and projections.

A marketing writer should not be building these. They come from compliance with the required disclosures attached.

Principal review

FINRA rules require certain retail messages to be approved by a registered principal before use, and some to be filed.

That process applies to website content, not only to brochures. A page published on a Friday afternoon has not been reviewed.

Build review into how the site changes. Then publishing cannot outrun approval.

Build review into how the site changes, so publishing cannot outrun approval. A page published on a Friday afternoon has not been reviewed.

Record keeping

Messages usually have to be kept, including site content as it appeared and when.

That means keeping versions, not just the current page. A site that silently overwrites itself is a record keeping gap.

Ask how your platform handles this. Do it before somebody asks during a review.

• The page as it appeared, not just the current version
• The date each version went live
• Who reviewed and approved it
• Any performance figures shown, with their basis
• Social posts and video, which are in scope too
• Correspondence generated by the site, including form submissions

The form is a governed surface too

Anything inviting a prospect to share their situation is part of marketing. What you ask for matters.

Our forms carry a short note asking people not to include sensitive personal detail. That is useful here for reasons beyond privacy.

Do not collect account numbers, balances or ID numbers through a website form.

Think about what a prospect might volunteer, not only what you ask. People describe their whole situation in a message box when they are worried.

Do not collect account numbers, balances or identifiers through a website form, which is the same rule described in form data.

How a website tool fits

Pages here are written from a talk about your practice. The builder refuses claim shapes nobody can support, such as promised returns or assured outcomes.

Every page passes a check that runs before anything publishes, validated against Google Search Essentials and modern web standards.

It does not know your registration, your firm's policies or your principal's calendar. Nothing here is legal advice, and your compliance officer is the gate that matters.

The builder refuses promised returns and assured outcomes outright, and it does not know your registration or your firm's policies.

Nothing here is legal advice. The builder refuses promised returns outright, and everything else on this page is your firm's process rather than ours.

Social and video

Content on other platforms is usually in scope too. It is where review breaks down most often, because posting feels casual.

Video and webinars are held to the same standard as written material. Anything you must say still applies, and they are harder to place in a video.

Agree in advance what may be posted without review and what may not. A written policy is easier than a judgment call on a Friday.