Context #1
Leo: How's the job hunting going?
Janice: Not so great. I've been pounding the pavement all week, I've emailed out over 40 resumes, and I still haven't gotten an interview!
Leo: Sorry to hear that. But you'll find something.
Janice: I know. That's why I'm on my way to pound the pavement some more.
Leo: That's the spirit! Keep it up!
Meaning: The expression "to pound the pavement" means to walk through the streets looking for something, usually a job. But while the idiom means to walk through the streets, it doesn't always mean that someone is literally walking around; in the example above, Janice says she has sent over 40 resumes over email, suggesting she isn't literally walking around. Less commonly, the expression can be used for non-job related activities, although in these cases, it usually means they literally walked around, as in the next example:
Context #2
The candidate's volunteers pounded the pavement, trying to reach out to their community. Due to their efforts, 1000 people joined the candidate's rally the following Saturday.
Meaning: In this example, the volunteers probably did literally walk through the streets, discussing their preferred political candidate with others.
