Do RIAs have to pre-approve marketing?

No. When it adopted the Marketing Rule, the SEC chose not to require advisers to review and approve advertisements before using them. It did say compliance policies should include objective, testable ways to prevent violations. Commenters had said the proposed requirement would impose "a significant compliance burden on advisers, especially smaller firms" (IA-5653, p. 238). Which method suits your firm, and whether your current policy meets that test, is a judgment for your CCO and counsel.

What this means for your firm

• Write down how your firm reviews advertisements: who reviews, at what point, and how often.
• Pick methods you will follow every time. The SEC's examples to prevent issues are pre-review, risk-based sampling and pre-approved templates; to detect and correct them, spot-checks and periodic reviews.
• Keep the evidence of each review next to the copy of the advertisement.
• Cover every channel you use, including your website and social posts.

Turret's Marketing product keeps that evidence for you: a named approver's decision on each version, with each decision recorded. The rule requires reasonable policies, not a product. Start with the Marketing Rule checklist.

Pre-approval

Not required. The final rule "will not require investment advisers to review and approve their advertisements prior to dissemination, unlike the proposal" (SEC, Release IA-5653, p. 237)

What is required

Written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations, reviewed at least annually (17 CFR 275.206(4)-7; IA-5653, pp. 238-239)

What examiners reported

Of advisers that updated their marketing policies, the staff said "Many of these advisers also required preapproval of advertisements before dissemination" (SEC Division of Examinations risk alert, April 17, 2024)

No. The SEC's adopting release says the final rule "will not require investment advisers to review and approve their advertisements prior to dissemination, unlike the proposal." Advisers still need compliance policies reasonably designed to prevent violations.

The proposal was different. The proposed rule would have required an adviser to have an advertisement "reviewed and approved for consistency with the requirements of the proposed rule by a designated employee before disseminating the advertisement, except in certain circumstances" (IA-5653, p. 237, footnote 774). The SEC did not adopt it.

The release is the Commission's own document, adopted December 22, 2020, effective May 4, 2021.

The SEC reported that commenters objected on burden, and answered:

"After considering these comments, we are not adopting the proposed internal review and approval requirement. Instead, we believe an adviser's existing obligations under the compliance rule will allow an adviser to tailor its compliance program to its own advertising practices to prevent violations from occurring, detect violations that have occurred, and correct promptly any violations that have occurred."

SEC, Release IA-5653, pp. 238-239

The same logic removed a recordkeeping line:

"As we are not adopting the proposed pre-use approval requirement, we are also not adopting this associated recordkeeping requirement."

SEC, Release IA-5653, p. 241

So the rule does not ask you to keep an approval record as such. The compliance rule, 206(4)-7, is where your review process lives.

The SEC says compliance policies for advertisements should include "objective and testable means reasonably designed to prevent violations." Its examples: pre-review, risk-based sampling or pre-approved templates to prevent; spot-checks and periodic reviews to detect.

The release continues:

"Advisers can establish such an objective and testable compliance policies and procedures through a variety of tools. For example, internal pre-review and approval of advertisements could serve as an effective component of an adviser's compliance program. Other effective methods to prevent issues could include reviewing a sample of advertisements based on risk or pre-approving templates. Effective methods to detect and correct promptly violations and adjust practices to prevent future violations might include spot-checking advertisements and periodic reviews."

SEC, Release IA-5653, p. 239

The staff repeated the examples in its September 19, 2022 risk alert: "Examples of objective and testable means could include, but are not limited to, conducting an internal pre-review and approval of advertisements, reviewing a sample of advertisements based on risk, or pre-approving templates."

Not as a requirement; the adopting release does not require it. In April 2024 the staff reported that many advisers that updated their marketing policies "also required preapproval of advertisements before dissemination," and a footnote notes the release allows other methods.

The alert is a staff account, not a rule. It says it "is not a rule, regulation, or statement of the Securities and Exchange Commission" and "creates no new or additional obligations for any person."

Among the policy weaknesses the staff listed, advisers' policies:

• "Did not address applicable marketing channels utilized by the advisers, such as websites and social media."
• "Were informal rather than in writing."
• "Were not tailored to address advisers' specific advertisements."

SEC Division of Examinations, risk alert of April 17, 2024, p. 2

The rule sets what you must keep. How you review is your choice.

Must keep

• A copy of each advertisement you disseminate (17 CFR 275.204-2(a)(11)), plus support where it applies: (a)(15) for testimonials and ratings, (a)(16) for performance, (a)(19) for the intended audience of hypothetical performance. For how long, see how long advertisements must be kept.

Your choices

• Scope. List what your firm treats as an advertisement: website pages, brochures, decks, social posts, newsletters.
• Method. Choose from the SEC's examples and say which applies to which kind of piece.
• Reviewer. Name the person. If one person both drafts and approves, say so in the policy.
• Evidence. Keep each review decision, dated, beside the copy: piece, version, reviewer, date, decision.
• Revisit. Check at the annual review under 206(4)-7(b) whether the method worked.

If your pieces carry testimonials or ratings, read testimonials and third-party ratings under the Marketing Rule before you submit them for review.

Turret's Marketing product ($99 a month, 5 submitters, no setup fee, 15-day free trial) keeps each upload as a new version. A named approver approves, rejects or requests changes; open checklist items block approval. An AI pre-screen that flags each piece for your approver (a firm admin can switch it off) looks for testimonial, performance and guarantee language. Turret computes a piece's Rule 204-2(e)(3) retention clock once its dissemination ends. It does not capture social media or review sites, supply a reviewer or write your policies. See Marketing compliance.

Sources opened October 27, 2026.

1. SEC release: SEC, Investment Adviser Marketing, Release No. IA-5653 (Dec. 22, 2020)
2. SEC risk alert (Sept. 19, 2022): SEC Division of Examinations risk alert, Examinations Focused on the New Investment Adviser Marketing Rule (Sept. 19, 2022)
3. SEC risk alert (Apr. 17, 2024): SEC Division of Examinations risk alert, Initial Observations Regarding Advisers Act Marketing Rule Compliance (Apr. 17, 2024)
4. Rule text: eCFR, 17 CFR 275.204-2, Books and records to be maintained by investment advisers
5. Rule text: Cornell LII, 17 CFR 275.206(4)-7, Compliance procedures and practices