The team at the Forbes Communications Council asked members what essential strategies we’d recommend a company do during the first 48 hours of a crisis.

My response: “All key players — executive team, legal team, relevant parties — should be completely briefed on the situation, but there should be one point of contact for all communications with the public. An initial message — cleared by legal — should be released to both internal and external publics that recognizes a situation, shares any current facts and information available and how and when the public should expect to receive further updates. Depending on the severity of the disaster, any other communications — social media, especially — should be paused until the crisis has been overcome. Meet with key players and define a strategy as soon as possible and make sure to make information available as promised.”

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