Compliance and Marketing Operations

In this post, I break down how highly regulated companies structure their marketing operations and what every MOps practitioner needs to consider. How do you work effectively with compliance and legal? Are there automations or ways to optimize engagement with those groups?

A Unique Vantage Point

I have unique experience working in marketing operations across many industries. In my last three full-time roles, I landed in highly regulated enterprise organizations. What I found most interesting is that marketing operations teams naturally absorb the additional steps compliance and regulatory requirements demand. Working with compliance and legal colleagues was one of the highlights of those experiences.

These folks have one focus: keeping the marketing team and the organization in compliance with industry regulations. Going to them first, and early in the process, helps move production along quickly. They hold all the knowledge about which disclaimers are needed, which imagery should be used or avoided, and which audiences are appropriate for specific messages. Speaking with them early helps you develop that same knowledge. Remember, they are the experts, and they stay on top of regulatory changes constantly. Building a positive, close relationship with this team will keep your operations running flawlessly.

Integrating Compliance into Your Operational Flow

Once you have the right connections in place, the next step is weaving compliance into your workflow. There are two lenses through which to view compliance: production and auditing.

Production

On the production side, compliance and legal supply the marketing team with the information they need to incorporate into their messaging. This might include keywords that trigger required disclaimers, or audience validation to ensure the offer targets the right people and eliminates any risk of discrimination. The rule is simple: use this word, add this disclaimer.

The compliance team typically maintains a running checklist you can reference to ensure messaging meets regulatory requirements. From an operational standpoint, this is an excellent opportunity to automate or leverage generative AI. Building these checks into the front end of your production cycle accelerates the compliance process for everyone. While each regulated industry have their own specific rules, the approach is universal.

Auditing

Auditing is a critical component of compliance. When building marketing materials, multiple people are involved at various stages. If an error makes it to publication, compliance and legal need to understand what happened, where the breakdown occurred, and how to prevent it from happening again. That requires a clear paper trail: 

• Who provided which update 
• Who implemented it
• When was it implemented 
•  In which system was it implemented

This is why a strong project management tool and process is non-negotiable.

Keeping Teams Small and Feedback Centralized

For channel-specific work, like email, aim to keep the core team tight: one person providing creative copy and concept, a program builder, a compliance officer, and a QA reviewer before deployment. Involving large groups in sign-off creates contradictions. One person may prefer a specific tone or phrasing; another may not. I’ve watched teams go in circles over something as minor as how to present a time zone. When you can keep the creative and execution teams small, do it.

Equally important: lock down one mode for collecting feedback and give every asset a consistent name that all parties can reference. Name your July interest rate email 2607IR_ProductName_Em and use that name everywhere: your project management tool, copy revision emails, and any other channel where feedback changes hands.

A Word of Caution on Feedback Modes

The number of ways teams collect feedback is staggering: physical sign-off sheets, email threads, Slack/Teams messages, project management ticket responses, and the classic in-person walk-by. Everyone works differently, but for auditing and compliance purposes, feedback must live in one place.

The good news: many project management tools consolidate responses across formats, including email replies. Project management tools collect and store feedback automatically while letting everyone work in their preferred mode.

If anyone on the team feels inconvenienced by maintaining a consistent process for collecting, storing, and acting on feedback, the reminder is straightforward: everyone at the organization must comply. These steps exist to protect you and the organization under the laws governing your industry.

Locking Down the Production Process

The path from create to build to deploy needs to be clearly defined and tightly managed. A reasonable workflow might look like: one day to create, one day to build, one day for feedback and revisions, one day for confirmation (two rounds maximum), followed by deployment QA and deployment. Once an asset is built, limit the rounds of changes.

Building the Automation Foundation

• Establish the full context for keywords, imagery, and audience rules to support automation in content development.
• Partner with your compliance team to test these automations and validate their accuracy.
• Build change management processes into your systems so they can adapt as regulations evolve.
• Maintain a thorough audit trail for future reference.