Florida Bank experiments with low-cost, grassroots marketing approach.

• Position: MARKETING NEWS - Brief article

MARKETING DOLLARS MAY BE TIGHT THESE DAYS, but that doesn't mean that you have to stop marketing. It is still possible to market effectively with limited dollars. All it takes is a little creativity.

Look, for example, at Great Florida Bank (assets: $1.5 billion), Miami Lakes, Fla., which introduced a promotion entitled Financial Fitness Fridays.

Launched in January, the promotion uses low-cost, grass-roots methods to boost traffic to the bank's solution centers (branches) on the third Friday of each month. And the bank says it's working. Compared to the number of accounts opened on regular business days, the bank has tripled the number of checking accounts it opens on Financial Fitness Fridays.

Customers are invited in for food, drinks, fun, new offers, and the chance to win the new iPod nano. Bank associates are free to put their own spin on marketing the event, but their budget is capped at $35. Some decorate their windows...