Crisis Communications 101

Crisis communications is something that most startups are spectacularly bad at. It does not need to be this way. Crisis communications is one of the most straight-forward PR programs to implement; it just requires planning and execution. Every Fortune 500 company has a PR playbook to address every possible crisis. As a startup, you should create plans for a number of contingencies. Here’s two very basic crisis communications checklists:

Before a crisis hits

1. Understand that a crisis can happen anytime and prepare in advance
2. Create a list of potential crisis scenarios
3. Develop response statements for each crisis scenario

When a crisis hits

1. Assess situation and find out all information
2. Provide appropriate response in timely manner
3. Be open and transparent

To demonstrate what a sample crisis communication playbook could look like, we developed a lightweight web-based one. Check it out here.