Marketing rule

The SEC marketing rule governs how registered investment advisers advertise, including the use of testimonials, endorsements, third-party ratings, performance figures and hypothetical results.

The definition of an advertisement is broad. A website, a one-page leave-behind and a social post can all qualify, which is why substantiation and record-keeping matter as much as wording.

Performance presentations carry specific requirements, and any figure shown must be supportable from the firm's books and records at the time it was published.