Crisis Communications 101: A Plan to Protect Your Brand's Reputation

A crisis rarely gives you time to plan. A product fault, a data breach, an employee incident, a viral complaint: when it happens, the first hours shape how people remember your response. A simple crisis communication plan, prepared now, lets you act quickly and credibly. Here's how to build one.

This guide is part of our PR strategy playbook.

1. Identify likely scenarios

List the crises most likely to affect your business:

• Product or service failure, safety issue or recall
• Data breach or privacy incident
• Employee or leadership misconduct
• Viral customer complaint or negative review
• Controversial advertising. See handling ad backlash
• Natural disaster, outage or major disruption
• Legal action or regulatory investigation

For each, note who's affected and what they'll need to know.

2. Form the crisis team

Role	Responsibility
Lead	Makes final decisions
Spokesperson (+ backup)	Speaks publicly and to media
Communications	Drafts statements, manages channels
Legal / advisor	Reviews statements for risk
Operations	Provides facts and fixes the problem
Customer service	Handles direct enquiries consistently

Small businesses may have one person in several roles. What matters is knowing who does what.

3. Prepare holding statements

Draft short, adaptable statements now:

"We're aware of [situation] and are looking into it urgently. [Our priority is the safety/privacy/wellbeing of…]. We'll share an update by [time]. For questions, contact [channel]."

Fill in details when a crisis happens, get quick approval, and publish.

4. The first 24 hours

1. Gather facts. What happened, who's affected, what's being done.
2. Activate the team and set an update rhythm.
3. Publish a holding statement quickly on your main channels.
4. Notify key stakeholders directly: affected customers, staff, partners and, where required, regulators.
5. Pause scheduled marketing and ads that could seem tone-deaf.
6. Monitor social media, reviews, news and search results.
7. Update regularly, even if the update is "we're still working on it."

5. Principles for what you say

• Be honest and accurate. Don't speculate.
• Show empathy for anyone affected.
• Take responsibility for what's yours.
• Explain actions, not just feelings.
• Be consistent across every channel.
• Don't say "no comment." Say what you can, and when you'll say more.

6. Handling media

Route all media enquiries to the spokesperson. Prepare key messages and likely questions. If you're doing interviews, the preparation in how to prepare for a TV interview applies, with extra care for tone. Keep a log of enquiries and responses.

7. Recovery

After the immediate crisis:

• Share what you've changed
• Follow through on commitments
• Thank people who were patient
• Rebuild trust with consistent, positive action over time
• Monitor search results and reviews. See online reputation management

A one-page crisis checklist

• [ ] Crisis team names and mobile numbers
• [ ] Spokesperson and backup
• [ ] Approval process (who signs off statements, and how fast)
• [ ] Holding statement templates
• [ ] List of channels and logins (website, social, email)
• [ ] Key stakeholder contacts (staff, top customers, partners, insurer, advisors)
• [ ] Media enquiry process
• [ ] Monitoring setup (alerts, social listening)

8. Keep it alive

A plan in a drawer doesn't help. Store it where the team can reach it, including contact numbers. Review it yearly and run a short practice scenario. For businesses operating in several countries, we'll cover extra considerations in crisis communications across markets.