POCATELLO — One of the primary goals set with the formation of VisitPocatello.com nearly two years ago was recently reached when the Idaho Travel Council awarded the tourism marketing entity a grant of nearly $100,000, one official said.

    “We are now working to use that grant to promote Pocatello and Bannock County,” said Matt Hunter, president and chief executive of the Great Pocatello Chamber of Commerce. “We have done a couple of things, but we are just starting that.”

    VisitPocatello.com was formed in 2011 to better align the local tourism marketing efforts with the state efforts, www.visitidaho.org. It took the place of what was formerly the Greater Pocatello Convention and Visitors Bureau.

    Hunter, a VisitPocatello.com board member, said that through a cooperative effort of Pocatello, Chubbuck and Bannock County, funds were made available to hire a person to operate Visit

Pocatello.com, including doing all those things required to garner that grant from the Idaho Travel Council.

    That person is Birgitta Bright, who came on board roughly a year ago, and was crucial to acquiring the Idaho Travel Council grant, Hunter said.

    “An important aspect of this is the funding for Birgitta cannot come out of the grant,” Hunter said. “We receive grant money from Pocatello, Chubbuck and Bannock County to fund this employee. Without that, we wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing.”

    What the funds can be used for is marketing Bannock County to those who are outside the area.

    “This is targeted to people outside our community to get them to come to our community,” Hunter said. “This is one of the issues we have, people say they haven’t seen anything. That’s the point. The point is to bring people to Pocatello, not to tell people in Pocatello what is going on.”

    That means the funds are used for those typical marketing efforts, such as going to travel shows, where they can directly market to individual travelers, or advertise the area or specific events in magazines or newspapers outside the area.

    To that end, Hunter said, VisitPocatello.com frequently advertises with publications in Boise or Salt Lake City, letting folks in those place know about what is going on here.

    Some of the staple events VisitPocatello.com markets include the Pocatello Marathon and the Biggest Show in Idaho.

    The grant will also allow VisitPocatello.com to upgrade its website.

    “Website is allowed because it is an external marketing piece,” Hunter said. “We can use as much as $8,000 to $10,000 for the website. We are going to do a couple of things there.”

    The goal is now to sustain the grant annually, and perhaps even grow. Hunter said that will come through consistently proving good stewardship and proper use of the existing grant.

    “As long as we do a good job managing it and comply with the rules the state has, the money will be reimbursed to us and we will be able to move forward year after year,” he said. “Hopefully, we can increase the grant monies we can receive.”