EAP cards and EAP brochures are essential marketing tools for EAPs. You typically give them out at employee orientations and supervisor training programs. You may display them in the hallway outside the EAP office, or in the company health clinic.
There are other places to display EAP brochures. Here are some distribution tips you may not have considered that could increase your EAP utilization. If you are an internal EAP, make sure your name is prominently displayed on the front of your brochure in the upper 40% of the front panel. (Brochures that end up inside brochure display cases can be “cut off” from the mid-point downward when inserted into display cases not made of clear plexi-glass.)
If you are an EAP provider, consider producing a separate brochure that lists the eligible companies on the back panel with a message on the front panel to attract the reader to look closer at the brochure to see if they are eligible for the services the EAP offers. If your EAP is associated with a large employer in town, put these EAP brochures in the waiting rooms of local urgent care centers and doctors offices. They’ll be happy to allow you to do so.
Next, consider distributing your EAP brochures in the lobbies of community agencies around town that provide health, mental health, and other wellness services (like recreation centers.) Unlike other product vendors, EAPs serve a special purpose and it will be a rare agency or doctors’ office that will refuse to display your brochures.
Carefully consider the content of the message in these types of brochures. They should not be the same as the brochures you distribute at training and orientations. Instead, they should be written to attract family members, with appropriate images. These family members may never step inside your company, but you can attract them as clients. The message should invite them to call the EAP to consult on personal problems, or seek additional support for the health or personal problems that brought them to the agency where they found your brochure.
With some thought, it is not difficult to think of a generic message that could apply to most settings where your brochures might end up. For example, in a family practice medical office or other general health care setting, your message might encourage the reader to call the EAP to inquire about services that include family counseling, home health care referrals, elder care assistance, help for a teenager, and similar adjunctive assistance.
