Crisis Communications: How to Handle The First 24 Hours

When a crisis hits, you don’t get a warning. One minute, business is running as usual—next thing you know, the media is calling, customers are panicking, and employees are wondering if they still have jobs.

In moments like these, speed matters. The companies that survive and recover aren’t the ones that react emotionally. They’re the ones with a crisis playbook—a clear plan for what to do, who’s in charge, and how to communicate.

Here’s how to build a crisis comms playbook that keeps your team calm, your brand intact, and your customers reassured.

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1. Build Your War Room (Ideally Before You Need It)

When a crisis hits, you don’t have time for a Slack poll on who should handle what. You need a pre-assembled team that knows exactly what to do.

Here’s who should be in the room:

✅ CEO / COO: The final decision-maker on big calls. Approves all public messaging.

✅ Head of Comms: Owns all internal and external messaging.

✅ Legal Counsel: Ensures every response is legally sound.

✅ HR / People Ops: Handles employee updates and safety.

✅ Investor Relations: Communicates with shareholders.

✅ Product & IT: Leads technical fixes if the crisis is product- or data-related.

✅ Compliance & Risk: Manages regulatory concerns.

🚨 Key action: Make sure you have a local copy of all critical contacts. If your cloud-based systems go down during a crisis, you still need access to phone numbers and locations for key leaders.

Assign Clear Roles

Everyone on the crisis team should know their job. If people are scrambling to figure it out during the crisis, you’ve already lost valuable time.

☑ Who approves messaging?
☑ Who talks to the media?
☑ Who monitors social media and puts out fires?
☑ Who handles legal and compliance concerns?

Think of it like a football team. You wouldn’t put your kicker in as quarterback during the Super Bowl. Everyone has their position, and they should know how to execute it under pressure.

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2. Know What Counts as a Crisis

Not every PR hiccup is a crisis. Before activating the war room, ask:

🔍 Is this a real crisis, or just a bad day?

✔️ A crisis disrupts business operations. (Think: cyberattack, data breach, product failure.)

✔️ It breaks trust with customers. (Think: false advertising scandal, leaked private data.)

✔️ It has major financial implications. (Think: SEC investigation, massive stock drop.)

If one or more of these conditions apply, it’s time to act. If not, it might just be a problem that a well-crafted statement or internal meeting can resolve.

For example, when Facebook suffered a massive outage in 2021, it was a real crisis—it shut down global communication, affected businesses that rely on their ads, and sent their stock plummeting by $50 billion.

Compare that to a social media controversy, where an offhand remark from an exec sparks backlash. One is a business crisis. The other is a reputation risk—which still requires handling, but not at the same level.

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3. Stick to These Crisis Response Rules

When everything feels chaotic, keep these guiding principles in mind:

Rule #1: People First

Before you think about the press or investors, protect your people.

✅ Are employees safe?
✅ Do customers know what’s going on?
✅ Are key stakeholders informed?

For instance, when Airbnb was accused of racial discrimination by hosts in 2016, their CEO didn’t ignore it or go into PR-spin mode. They apologized, revamped their policies, and made real changes—because they understood that trust with customers was priority #1.

Rule #2: Be First, Be Right, Be Credible

Bad information spreads faster than the truth. If you don’t fill the silence, someone else will.

✅ Acknowledge the issue early. 

Even if you don’t have all the answers yet, a holding statement like “We’re aware of the situation and are actively investigating. We’ll update as soon as we have more details.” keeps you in control.

✅ Stick to facts, not speculation. 

Saying “We think this might be a cyberattack” before you know for sure? That’s how panic spreads.

✅ Correct false info aggressively. 

If rumors get traction, shut them down quickly.

Rule #3: Speak Like a Human

Nothing makes a crisis worse than robotic, legal-approved statements that dodge responsibility.

🚫 Bad: “We regret any inconvenience this situation may have caused.”

✅ Good: “We know this has impacted our customers in serious ways. We take full responsibility and are fixing it now.”

People don’t want corporate jargon. They want honest, clear updates from leadership.

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4. The First 24 Hours: What to Do Immediately

When a crisis breaks, the first 24 hours are critical. Here’s your “break-the-glass” checklist:

✅ Gather the crisis team. Call key decision-makers (CEO, legal, comms, HR) and set up a war room—virtual or physical. No long email chains. Pick up the phone.

✅ Lock in communication channels. Decide where and how updates will be shared—internal Slack, email, or company-wide meetings. Set a check-in cadence (e.g., every three hours).

✅ Monitor real-time conversations. Keep an eye on news reports, social media, and customer support tickets. A small rumor can spiral into a PR disaster if left unchecked.

✅ Inform employees first. They should never hear about a crisis from the press or social media. Provide clear instructions on how to handle external inquiries.

✅ Draft holding statements. Even if you don’t have all the answers, acknowledge the issue and commit to updates. Example: “We’re aware of the situation and are investigating. We’ll share more details shortly.”

✅ Assign spokespersons. Ensure the right people handle media, investors, and employees. Conflicting statements create confusion and erode trust.

Crisis preparation pays off. If you have pre-approved response templates for common crisis types—data breaches, PR issues, or financial downturns—you’ll move faster and with confidence.

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5. Crafting Your Crisis Message: What to Say (and What NOT to Say)

When a crisis hits, your message needs to be clear, honest, and reassuring. If you fumble your response, you risk losing trust—and once trust is broken, it’s hard to rebuild.

Every crisis response should include:

1️⃣ What happened – Stick to the facts. No speculation, no assumptions.

Instead of saying, “We believe a hacker may have accessed customer data,” say, “On March 5, we detected unauthorized access to our system and are investigating the full scope.”

2️⃣ What you’re doing about it – Show action and responsibility.

Don’t say, “We’re looking into it.” Instead, say, “Our security team is working with external experts to assess the breach, and we’ve already implemented additional protective measures.”

3️⃣ Where to get updates – Be the single source of truth.

Don’t let the media control the story. Instead, say, “For real-time updates, visit [yourwebsite.com/crisis-response]. We’ll be posting verified information every three hours.”

4️⃣ What comes next – Show you’re in control of the future.

Instead of, “We’ll try to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” say, “We’re conducting a full review of our security systems and will release a report outlining the improvements we’re making.”

What NOT to Say

🚫 Don’t dodge responsibility.

When BP’s CEO said “I’d like my life back” after the Deepwater Horizon disaster, it came off as tone-deaf and dismissive. Instead, acknowledge mistakes and show accountability: “We deeply regret the spill and take full responsibility for the cleanup.”

🚫 Don’t speculate.

If you say “We think it was a cyberattack” before confirming, and it turns out to be an internal error, you’ve made things worse. Stick to “We are investigating the cause and will update once we have confirmed details.”

🚫 Don’t overpromise.

Don’t say “We are fixing the issue now,” during a global outage—only for it to last six more hours. Instead, say, “We’re working on a fix and will provide an estimated timeline soon.”

The best crisis messaging is transparent, proactive, and consistent. If you don’t control the story, someone else will.

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6. Prepare for the Next One (Because There Will Be a Next One)

Crisis management isn’t about if something will go wrong—it’s about when. The best teams don’t just react well; they prepare ahead of time.

1. Identify Your Top 5 Crisis Risks

Every company has different vulnerabilities. A tech company might prioritize data breaches and server outages, while a consumer brand might focus on product recalls or social media backlash. Make a list of the most likely threats to your business.

Example: When Marriott suffered a data breach impacting 500 million customers, they had to act fast. A pre-existing cybersecurity risk assessment could have helped mitigate the fallout.

2. Draft Response Templates

You don’t want to be writing crisis statements from scratch in the heat of the moment. Have pre-approved messaging ready for different scenarios—data leaks, executive scandals, product failures—so you can move quickly.

For example, most SaaS companies should have pre-written outage responses that they tweak and publish immediately, keeping users informed without unnecessary panic.

3. Rehearse

Running crisis simulations twice a year is crucial. Have your leadership team practice their roles—just like a fire drill.

Airlines, for instance, conduct regular crisis drills, ensuring that spokespersons are ready to handle worst-case scenarios like flight accidents.

4. Keep Your Playbook Updated

A crisis plan is useless if half the contacts are outdated. Review it every six months to ensure leadership changes, new risks, and updated protocols are reflected.

Prepare now, so when the next crisis comes, you’re not scrambling.

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Final Thoughts on Crisis Communications

Crisis comms isn’t about spin. It’s about trust.

The businesses that handle crises well don’t just recover—they come out stronger. A clear plan, decisive leadership, and honest communication make all the difference.

Because in the end, it’s not about avoiding crises. It’s about making sure people still trust your company when the dust settles.

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How LinkedIn Helps with PR

In a crisis, owning your narrative is everything. And LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to do it. Unlike traditional media—where you have to rely on journalists to tell your side of the story—LinkedIn lets you speak directly to your audience, unfiltered.

Here’s how it helps:

✅ Control the message – Share updates in real-time, straight from leadership, without media spin.

✅ Reach key stakeholders – Customers, employees, investors, and industry peers are all on LinkedIn. Keep them informed and engaged.

✅ Counter misinformation – If rumors or false narratives are spreading, use LinkedIn to set the record straight—quickly.

✅ Rebuild trust post-crisis – Thoughtful content, leadership insights, and transparency go a long way in repairing your brand’s credibility.

Many top companies use LinkedIn as their PR safety net, ensuring they stay in control when challenges arise.

Want to learn how to leverage it for your brand? Read our full guide here or sign up for our LinkedIn for PR course today.