When marketing to millennials, many financial advisors’ immediate thought consists of two words: “social media.” While that channel certainly has a role to play, marketing to millennials is a lot more complicated than that.

For one thing, depending on which channel you choose and your firm’s policies, there may be some compliance issues.

“The challenge for financial advisors is what forms of media are approved for use by your company or broker-dealer,” says Denise J. Nostrom of Diversified Financial Solutions in Medford, N.Y. “Are you allowed to use Facebook? Twitter? Instagram?” Snapchat, in particular, is growing in popularity among young people—but it isn’t approved for use by some financial advisors, Nostrom says. “A discussion with your compliance department will give you an idea which social media outlets you can use,” she advises.

But don’t ignore old-school techniques either, Nostrom says, including snail mail.

“E-mail in-boxes are cluttered, and their brains are overwhelmed with information,” she says, “so sending a letter in the mail or a flashy marketing postcard can be a way to get their attention.

“Many millennials are moving out of their parents’ homes and getting their own apartment. Getting mail in their new place will be exciting.”

Indeed, traditional prospecting still has a big place in the marketing tool kits of advisors trying to reach younger customers. But the message will be different, as will the medium. While financial advisors will probably always use free dinners and seminars to find new customers, they may have to update their thinking to attract millennials.

“Casual, enjoyable events, such as wine tastings, cooking classes and a volunteer outing or charity benefit can be effective ways to engage with millennial prospects,” says Bill McManus, director of strategic markets at Hartford Funds.

Likewise, referrals may play an even bigger role in bringing millennials into your practice. And the best referrals are their parents, grandparents and friends who are already your clients.

“Millennials put a lot of value on the opinions of their friends and family, so referrals from your trusted clients will go a long way,” says Quinn Waddington of Waddington Wealth Management Group in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Indeed, creating trust is a big issue in courting millennials, and specifically that means trust in you as an individual advisor, not necessarily in the firm whose flag you fly.

“Probably the biggest adjustment advisors need to make when marketing to millennials is moving away from a reliance on 'the brand' and instead moving toward emphasizing their own real selves,” says Joshua Escalante Troesh, founder of Purposeful Strategic Partners in Alta Loma, Calif. “Research shows that millennials largely eschew brands in favor of personalities. So if your own quirky personality isn't showing through in your marketing and sales messages, you are less likely to reach millennial investors.”

“Perhaps the single biggest thing we see is that millennials want to be able to trust the person they are working with,” adds Jamie Hopkins, director of retirement research at Carson Group in Omaha, Neb. “In a digital world, you need to show that you can adapt and deliver service where they need it, when they need it. But this does not mean you give up on the human touch. Young and millennial individuals want a mix of technology and human interaction. You need technology to help support what you are doing, but it is not a replacement for human interaction.”

But whether it’s online or off, the kind of message you put out there is critical. For financial advisors, education—not a sales pitch—is the best thing to offer when approaching millennials.

“We have discovered that keeping things high-level and education-focused are big keys,” says Ian McMillan, director of research and operations at Sherman Wealth Management LLC in Gaithersburg, Md. However, he says, there shouldn’t be “a lot of industry lingo, but approaching conversations in more elementary ways at first. And then as their understanding of planning and investing grows, the conversations become more complex.”

The best way to deliver that, according to several advisors, is visually and orally, less so through text. That means such things as videos and podcasts, not reading material.

“I find the best way to communicate with the younger generation of clients is through different variations of visual information,” says Mike Desepoli, a financial advisor at Heritage Financial Advisory Group in Port Jefferson Station, N.Y. “Video, infographics, animated PowerPoint have all been extremely effective for us. This allows prospects to conceptualize important topics and help quantify the impact different strategies will have on their money.”

“Podcasts give millennials the opportunity to control where, when and what they listen to all through their smartphone,” adds Mark Mersman, chief marketing officer at USA Financial in Ada, Mich. “Even though they are attached to their smart device, their attention span is typically limited. Most of their communication and interaction with the world is in sound bites and video clips. As a result, short videos and simple ‘freemiums’ offered via social media are an effective means of engaging with them.”

In addition, he says, podcasts and short videos “give advisors the opportunity to create content easily and focus on their message and content without additional noise or fluff.”

Of course, no discussion about marketing to millennials would be complete without mentioning fees, which are always a touchy subject but which may be an even more sensitive issue with younger people given their age, relative lack of financial resources and the abundance of cheaper online-only competitors aimed squarely at them.

“Many millennials view financial advisors skeptically, and as such it’s imperative to be transparent about pricing,” says Ashaunda Davis, a financial advisor at Northwestern Mutual in Atlanta. “More planning platforms are available than ever before and millennials, as many people are early in their careers, are cost sensitive.”

“The primary theme with the millennial crowd is value,” says Dennis McNamara, a financial planner at Lighthouse Financial Advisors in Red Bank, N.J. “As a generation raised with search engines and cost comparison sites, millennials tend to know exactly what they want and do a good job equating value with service. If you are going to market to the millennial crowd with any success, planners need to be able to show that the fees they charge justify the services they provide.”

That’s why Ian Bloom of Open World Financial Life Planning in Raleigh, N.C., offers project-based plans to address specific topics, as well as annual planning agreements with monthly payment structures. “Either way, the client doesn't have to have a lot of assets or write a huge check up front to engage my services,” he says. “The transparency and ease of payment doesn't go unnoticed.”