By Stephanie Shirley, APR
It’s Not About “If” You’ll Face a Crisis, It’s About How Ready You’ll Be
Here’s a hard truth: every business will face a crisis at some point. It might not be a headline-making scandal or a cyberattack. It could be something quieter, but just as damaging—a leadership transition gone wrong, a rogue employee post on social media, or a customer complaint that snowballs online.
The difference between a business that recovers and one that unravels often comes down to this: whether you’ve prepared a crisis communications plan before the crisis hits.
And here’s the surprising part: developing that plan doesn’t just help you survive a crisis. It can actually transform how your business communicates, operates, and leads.
I’ve worked with hundreds of organizations over the past 15 years, from small family-run firms to statewide nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies. Across every industry and every economic climate, I’ve seen the same pattern repeat. The businesses that invest in communications planning, especially crisis communications, run smoother, perform better, and recover faster.
A Crisis Communications Plan Is More Than Protection, It’s Optimization
Too many business owners see a crisis communications plan as a “break glass in case of emergency” tool. In reality, it’s a strategic advantage.
Think of it as a comprehensive tune-up for your business communications, a process that aligns your internal systems, sharpens your leadership messaging, and builds trust with your audiences before a problem ever occurs.
It’s the equivalent of maintaining your car’s engine rather than waiting for it to seize up on the highway. You’re not just preventing disaster; you’re improving performance.
In fact, I would venture to say that in my experience, the vast majority of business inefficiencies and internal communication breakdowns are discovered and solved through developing a crisis communications plan.
When you take the time to identify your vulnerabilities, define your messaging, and streamline your response processes, you inevitably uncover the hidden gaps that are slowing down productivity, confusing employees, or eroding your brand consistency.
The result is a more agile, self-aware, and high-functioning organization.
Why Every Business, Large or Small, Needs One
I often hear: “We’re not big enough to need a crisis plan.” Or, “That’s something for corporations with PR departments.”
Wrong.
Crisis doesn’t discriminate by company size or sector. In fact, smaller and midsized businesses often face higher risks because they lack the infrastructure and staffing to manage unexpected fallout.
A well-developed plan gives you:
- Clarity: Who speaks, what’s said, and how quickly you respond
- Control: A defined process that keeps leadership aligned and confident
- Continuity: Your operations and reputation stay intact, even when tested
Whether you’re a three-person team or a statewide enterprise, a crisis plan gives you the same thing every business leader wants: peace of mind.
How a Strong Plan Strengthens Everyday Operations
Crisis planning isn’t just about preparing for the worst, it’s about performing your best every day. The process naturally exposes inefficiencies and improves collaboration across departments.
Here’s what I see happen time and again when businesses invest in strategic and crisis communications planning:
- Roles and Responsibilities Get Clearer
You quickly discover who’s accountable for what and who’s been wearing too many hats.
- Internal Communication Improves
Teams stop working in silos. Information flows faster and more accurately.
- Leadership Messaging Gets Sharper
Your executives become more confident, credible, and consistent in how they represent the brand.
- Customer Trust Deepens
A business that communicates with transparency and empathy builds goodwill, long before it’s tested.
- Reputation Becomes a Managed Asset, Not a Gamble
You can’t control every narrative, but you can control how prepared you are to respond to one.
A crisis plan doesn’t just prepare you for the storm. It strengthens your infrastructure, sharpens your voice, and elevates your reputation in calm weather, too.
How to Get Started (and Why Now Is the Time)
If you’ve never built a crisis communications plan, start small. Here’s a practical framework:
- Identify your vulnerabilities.
Brainstorm the top five scenarios that could harm your operations or reputation, everything from data loss to leadership changes to public controversy.
- Outline your communication chain.
Who gets notified first? Who approves statements? Who speaks publicly? This alone will reveal major gaps in your internal processes.
- Develop holding statements.
Draft adaptable messages that express empathy, accountability, and action so you’re not crafting your first public statement in panic mode.
- Train your spokespeople.
Crisis moments are high-stakes, high-pressure environments. Media and message training can make the difference between being professional and poised, or appearing caught off guard.
- Revisit and refine regularly.
Your plan should evolve as your business does. Schedule an annual review alongside your strategic planning cycle.
Even if a crisis never happens (and let’s hope it doesn’t), the process will make your organization stronger, more aligned, and more communicative than before.
The Edge That Sets You Apart
When competitors scramble to react, the prepared stay composed. That composure, rooted in strategy, isn’t just good crisis management, it’s good business.
A comprehensive communications plan, including a crisis strategy, is one of the smartest investments you can make because it doesn’t just protect your brand, it amplifies it.
It gives your team clarity, your customers confidence, and your business an edge that most never think to develop.
And in a marketplace where reputation drives everything from recruitment to revenue, that’s not just insurance. That’s your competitive advantage.
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Stephanie Shirley, APR, is a Strategic Communications Specialist and owner of Bennis Public Relations, a Pennsylvania-based firm helping businesses, organizations, and nonprofits strengthen their brands, navigate challenges, and communicate with clarity and confidence.
With more than 15 years of experience advising hundreds of clients across sectors, Stephanie’s expertise transforms how organizations prepare, respond, and thrive. For a no-cost consultation, Stephanie can be reached at Stephanie@bennisinc.com