Crisis communication: what to do in the first 24 hours
A practical playbook for the first day of a reputation crisis: the holding statement, the facts file, one spokesperson, monitoring, legal review and how often to update.
A crisis rarely announces itself. A post goes viral, a journalist calls, a customer video spreads, a data leak surfaces. What happens in the first 24 hours shapes how the story is told for months, and how it shows up in search results and AI answers afterwards.
Hour 0 to 1: get the facts and the team
- Name a crisis lead who makes decisions and a single spokesperson.
- Start a facts file: what happened, when, who is affected, what is confirmed and what is not.
- Freeze scheduled posts and ads that could look tone-deaf.
- Bring in legal counsel early, especially if there are injuries, data, regulators or allegations against named people.
Hour 1 to 3: the holding statement
Publish a short statement where your audience will look for it. A good holding statement:
- acknowledges what happened in plain words
- shows concern for the people affected
- says what you are doing now
- promises a time for the next update, and keeps that promise
It does not guess, blame or speculate.
Hour 3 to 12: monitor and respond
Track mentions across news, social platforms, forums and search results. Answer journalists with the same facts in every conversation. Brief employees, because they will be asked and they will talk. Reply to customers who are directly affected, privately where possible.
Hour 12 to 24: the update
Share what you have learned and what you are changing. Concrete steps carry more weight than apologies on their own. If you were wrong, say so clearly. If false claims are circulating, correct them with evidence and ask publishers to correct the record.
After the first day
- keep updating on the schedule you promised
- document every decision for later review
- correct inaccurate articles and listings at the source, so they do not keep resurfacing in search and AI answers
- review what failed and fix it, then say publicly that you did
How we help
We run crisis rooms in Turkish, English and German: drafting statements, handling press, monitoring around the clock and dealing with unlawful content through the proper channels. The best time to call is before the first statement goes out.
Frequently asked questions
Should we say 'no comment'?
Rarely. 'No comment' reads as hiding something. A short holding statement that says what you know, what you are doing and when you will update is almost always better.
Who should speak for the company?
One spokesperson who is senior enough to be credible and prepared enough to stay on message. Everyone else refers questions to them.
Should we delete critical posts?
No, unless they are unlawful. Deleting legitimate criticism usually makes a crisis bigger. Unlawful content such as defamation, threats or leaked personal data is a different matter and can be removed through the proper channels.