Crisis Communications Plan: What to Have Ready Before You Need It
Crises are lost in the first two hours, not the first two weeks. Almost everything that goes wrong in that window — contradictory statements, a spokesperson who was not briefed, staff learning from the press — is a planning failure, not a communications failure.
Decide these things now
- Who decides. One named decision-maker and one deputy. Committees leak and stall.
- Who speaks. One spokesperson per audience: media, staff, customers, regulator.
- Who must be told, in what order. Staff usually before customers; regulators to statutory deadlines.
- Where you publish. A statement on your own site, so search results point at your words.
Pre-write holding statements
Draft short statements for your three most likely scenarios — a data incident, a safety or service failure, and an allegation against a senior individual. Each one acknowledges, states what you are doing, and says when you will update. No speculation, no blame, no minimising.
Prepare the search side
Crisis coverage ranks for your brand name within hours. If your own site has nothing relevant, journalists' copy is what buyers read. Owned assets, an updates page and existing search strength decide how much of page one you keep. See search suppression.
The first two hours
- Establish the facts you can actually stand behind. Log the unknowns.
- Brief staff before you brief anyone else.
- Publish the holding statement on your own domain and link it from the homepage.
- Respond to media with one voice and one document.
- Start monitoring search, social and review platforms; do not argue in comments.
Afterwards
The coverage stays indexed long after the story dies. Recovery work is search work: strengthening what you own, correcting inaccuracies with publishers, and rebuilding review flow. Read crisis reputation management and online reputation repair.
Frequently asked questions
Should we say nothing until we know everything?
No. Silence is read as guilt. Say what is confirmed, say what you are doing, and give a time for the next update.
Do we need this if we are a small firm?
A one-page version is enough, and small firms recover more slowly without one.
Can you be on retainer for this?
Yes, including out-of-hours response. Book a Strategy Call .