SEC Marketing Rule
The SEC Marketing Rule is Rule 206(4)-1 under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which governs how registered investment advisers advertise. Adopted in December 2020 with a compliance date of November 4, 2022, it replaced the decades-old advertising and cash solicitation rules with a single principles-based framework.
The Marketing Rule consolidated two older rules, the advertising rule and the cash solicitation rule, into one modernized framework covering essentially any communication an adviser makes to offer its services.
The general prohibitions
The rule sets out a series of general prohibitions that apply to all adviser advertising. In broad terms these prohibit untrue or unsubstantiated statements, material omissions, unfair or unbalanced presentations, references to specific advice that are not presented fairly, and any communication that is otherwise materially misleading.
What changed most visibly
The most significant practical change was that testimonials and endorsements, which were effectively off limits under the prior regime, became permissible subject to disclosure, oversight, and disqualification conditions. This is why advisor websites began featuring client reviews after late 2022.
Performance advertising
The rule also imposes detailed conditions on performance presentations, including requirements around net and gross performance, prescribed time periods, and specific treatment of hypothetical, extracted, and predecessor performance.
Firms remain responsible for their own compliance determinations. The rule is principles-based, which means reasonable firms reach different conclusions, and your CCO or outside counsel is the authority on what your firm may publish.
Why it matters for marketing
Every design and content decision on an advisory website eventually collides with this rule. A testimonial block cannot render without its required disclosure. A performance figure cannot appear without its accompanying context. A case study cannot cherry pick a favorable outcome.
The practical implication for a website build is architectural, not cosmetic. Disclosures need to live in a structured system that is bound to the content requiring them, so a testimonial physically cannot publish without its disclosure attached. Firms that handle this with manually pasted footer text eventually publish something they should not have.
This is also the reason a review gate matters. If everything routes through a documented approval step before it reaches production, the firm can demonstrate to an examiner what was approved, by whom, and when.
Common questions
Can financial advisors use client testimonials on their website?
Since the Marketing Rule compliance date of November 4, 2022, registered investment advisers may use testimonials subject to conditions. These generally include clear and prominent disclosure of whether the person is a current client and whether they were compensated, disclosure of material conflicts of interest, adviser oversight, and a written agreement where compensation exceeds a de minimis threshold. Confirm your firm's specific obligations with your CCO.
What does the SEC Marketing Rule mean for an advisor's website design?
It means disclosures must be structurally tied to the content that triggers them rather than pasted into a footer. Testimonial components should be built so they cannot render without an associated disclosure. Performance figures need their required context alongside them. Practically, this pushes firms toward a CMS with a dedicated disclosures collection and a pre-publish review gate.
Related terms
This entry is general information for marketers and does not constitute legal, compliance, or investment advice. Confirm your specific obligations with your compliance officer or counsel before acting on it.