How Walmart drives—and amplifies—coverage through its webzine

What started as a sustainability blog has become a platform that tells stories, provides fodder for pitches and highlights news media coverage.

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Or if you’re interested in how a Polish candlemaker opened a manufacturing facility in Virginia, Walmart has the answer on its webzine, Walmart Today.

What started out as blog about sustainability has grown into a full brand journalism initiative by the $485.9 billion retail giant. Its strategy offers lessons for organizations large and small using newsy content.

It all comes down to telling stories about the people who make up the company, says Emily Schmid, director of digital content and editor of Walmart Today.

“If you just rattle off a lot of big numbers,” she says, “it’s hard for somebody to relate to that or to break it down into terms that are understandable.”

As a corporation, Walmart offers storytelling potential as great as that of a major city. With 1.5 million associates in the United States and 2.3 million globally, there are plenty of human faces to feature. The company has 5,000 physical locations in the U.S., and its e-commerce is growing.

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