It's undeniable that local search, along with mobile, are "all the rage" in the online marketing community.  While both have held promise for quite some time, it appears that 2011 will be the "breakout" year for one or both.  

Local search in particular is becoming a key driver in local internet marketing.  This is posing significant challenges for national brands who need to enable the local affiliates to successfully marketing and advertise locally.  

So how do you get it done on a broad scale?  

I could write a novel on the details of this process, but there are a few key elements to remember that will save you time, headache and ultimately dollars: 

1. Get your data straight.  Bad data will equal bad registrations - so if you don't have a clean data set for your local affiliates, focus on that before you concern yourself with local search registration.  

2.  Pre-notify your local outlets that this is happening.  They will play a role in the confirmation of the local listings, and it's critical that they know it's coming.  Think of it as a marketing campaign and hit them on multiple levels:  email, dmail and personal contact all should play a role.  

3.  Hire a good partner. If you're looking at any more than 25 or so registrations, this is not something you want to do yourself.  Find a good partner, make sure you know who's going to be doing the activity (automated or personal?  US or offshore?).  

4.  Completely fill-out the profiles.  You're going to be in the data anyway, so make sure you not only have good contact info - but also photos, videos, category elements, brands carried and everything you can think of.  

5.  After registration, pass the login info back to the local affiliates.  Things change, and you don't want to be responsible for ongoing management.  

I hope this helps - let us know if you need a hand!