Would you plan out an entire sales initiative without informing your sales team? Just like you would do with your own team and other impacted departments, involve your legal team in concept discussions early on in the process.

Just like you bring the marketing expertise to the table, your legal team can be an incredible asset to you in the planning stages of your marketing initiatives. Even though it may feel like the Wild West out there, there are some rules to follow in order to minimize your company's legal and financial risks.

For example, if you're running a sweepstakes, there is certain phrasing and general structure that you need to follow from a legal standpoint. Getting all the way through your planning process for an otherwise "home run" sweeps campaign only to find out that it doesn't pass legal muster is only going to frustrate you, your team and your boss.

Depending on your industry as well as the initiative, the importance of getting legal buy-in from the beginning will vary. While it's always important, a general advertising campaign for a power drill doesn't require as much legal involvement as highly regulated industries such as financial services or the pharmaceutical industry.

There is another two-fold benefit to involving your legal department early on in the process. First, you will be facilitating the marketing education process with each initiative. Just like you've learned your trade by applying your knowledge, your legal team will learn more from "doing" than simply by reading. The second benefit is that your legal team will be able to take some level of ownership of the initiative and feel more like a stakeholder than a spectator. This level of involvement is more likely to garner you project greenlights down the road.