10 Crisis Communication Templates Every Business Needs in an Emergency

When a crisis hits, every second counts—and a poorly executed crisis communication plan can make things worse. In 2017, United Airlines learned this the hard way. A viral video showed a passenger being forcibly removed from a flight. Instead of addressing public outrage with empathy, the CEO blamed the passenger, leading to a $1 billion loss in market value and long-term reputational damage.

Now imagine a cybersecurity breach exposing customer data. If your team scrambles to find the right messaging or issues inconsistent updates, trust erodes, and panic spreads. Without a structured crisis communication plan, even minor issues can spiral into disasters. A well-documented, easily accessible plan ensures your team responds fast, stays in control, and protects your brand’s reputation—before it’s too late.

10 essential crisis communication templates

No two crises are the same, but every organization needs a communication plan. That’s why we’ve put together 10 essential crisis communication templates—helping businesses respond quickly, clearly, and consistently in high-pressure situations.

From press releases and media statements to social media crisis management and stakeholder communication, these templates cover a wide range of crisis scenarios. Whether you need to inform the public, reassure customers, or align your internal team, these ready-to-use resources ensure your communication is professional, strategic, and effective. Exactly when it matters the most. 

1. Crisis communication plan template

This crisis communication presentation template helps businesses—especially in high-risk industries like aviation, healthcare, and corporate enterprises—quickly align their teams and establish a strategic response. Instead of scrambling to create slides from scratch, this professional, pre-designed framework covers:

• Types of crises, from cybersecurity breaches to PR disasters
• Key risks and challenges, including financial, legal, and reputational consequences
• Crisis management strategies for a structured, transparent response

Unlike static PDFs, this communication plan template lets you embed videos, add links, integrate GIFs, and include other interactive elements to make crisis communication more engaging and actionable.

For security, it can be shared internally via SSO authentication or restricted email access, ensuring that sensitive crisis communication plans stay protected within your organization.

2. Social media crisis management template

A social media crisis can escalate fast, and a delayed or inconsistent response can damage your brand’s reputation. This social media crisis management template provides pre-approved messaging, escalation workflows, and tone guidelines to help your team respond swiftly and professionally.

What’s inside?

• Crisis response templates for privacy concerns, technical issues, and customer complaints.
• Escalation workflow to ensure the right teams are involved at the right time.
• Tone and messaging guidelines for consistent, brand-aligned communication.

When you edit this communication plan template in a flipbook format, your team can quickly access key response protocols, update information in real time without resending files, and embed video statements—ensuring you’re always prepared to manage a crisis effectively, without scrambling for outdated documents.

3. Crisis response template 

In high-stakes situations, organizations need a structured communication plan to manage crises effectively. This crisis response example helps teams assess risks, coordinate stakeholders, and execute response protocols with clarity and speed. Designed with high-contrast visuals, it ensures critical information stands out.

What’s inside?

• Response framework for decision-making and escalation.
• Roles and responsibilities for leadership and coordination.
• Stakeholder communication guidelines for media, press releases, and updates.

After you edit this crisis response communication strategy template with your own content, you’ll benefit from a fully interactive, easy-to-update flipbook. Unlike PDFs lost in shared drives, this format allows you to search content instantly, embed videos for key briefings, and provide real-time updates without resending files. It streamlines crisis management, risk evaluation, and compliance, ensuring teams always have the latest, most accurate information at their fingertips.

4. Stakeholder communication template

In a crisis, companies must share updates quickly—but they also need to control who sees them. Imagine a cybersecurity breach affecting customer data. Executives, investors, and partners need immediate, transparent updates, but sensitive details shouldn’t be accessible to the public or competitors. That’s where a structured stakeholder communication strategy template comes in, ensuring every message is clear, aligned, and securely delivered.

What’s inside?

• Situation overview for context and impact analysis.
• Mitigation steps outlining short- and long-term solutions.
• Financial and operational insights for stakeholder transparency.

With Flipsnack, companies can securely share crisis updates through SSO authentication, limit access to specific stakeholders, and ensure only the latest version is available. No more outdated PDFs or information leaks—just seamless, controlled communication when it matters most.

5. Media statement template 

A well-crafted media statement ensures your organization responds to crises, company updates, or legal matters with clarity, confidence, and consistency. This template provides a structured message framework, covering spokesperson roles, tone guidelines, and formatting best practices to maintain trust and reputation.

What’s inside:

• Message framework – Craft clear, concise, and effective statements
• Spokesperson guidelines – Define who speaks on behalf of the company
• Formatting & distribution – Ensure consistency across all media channels

After you edit this media statement communication template with your own content, you’ll have a polished, ready-to-use media statement that ensures alignment across teams. You can embed CEO video statements, link supporting documents, and make real-time updates without resending files. Teams can collaborate securely via SSO, organize media responses in folders, and share instantly, ensuring a faster, more coordinated crisis response.

6. Crisis press release template

When a crisis hits, the wrong words—or even a delayed response—can escalate the situation. Whether it’s a product recall, legal dispute, or viral controversy, your organization needs a clear, confident message that reassures stakeholders and prevents misinformation. This media statement template provides a structured framework to ensure your response is professional, aligned, and consistent.

What’s inside?

• Message framework – Craft clear, concise, and effective statements.
• Spokesperson guidelines – Define who speaks on behalf of the company.
• Formatting & distribution – Ensure consistency across all media channels.

When the media is waiting for a response, teams need to find official statements in minutes—not hours. With Flipsnack, all media statements can be stored in organized bookshelves, ensuring instant access for PR teams, executives, and external agencies. Secure SSO-based sharing keeps sensitive information protected, while real-time updates mean everyone is working from the latest, approved version—no outdated PDFs or scattered email threads.

7. Crisis communication plan 

A well-structured crisis communication plan ensures that corporate comms teams, PR specialists, and crisis managers can act quickly and confidently when a crisis hits. This template provides a clear framework for response strategies, stakeholder messaging, and escalation protocols, helping organizations maintain transparency and trust.

What’s inside?

• A structured response timeline for immediate, short-term, and post-crisis actions
• Defined roles and responsibilities for crisis teams
• Messaging guidelines to align all stakeholders

With Flipsnack, updating crisis plans is effortless—simply replace the PDF, and the flipbook link remains the same, ensuring teams always access the latest version. Plus, its intuitive search function makes finding critical information faster than ever.

8. Incident report template

When a data breach occurs, every moment counts. This incident report template equips DevOps teams to document security incidents comprehensively, communicate effectively with stakeholders, and ensure organizational awareness and preparedness. Structured sections guide you through incident details, impact assessments, and response actions, promoting transparency and consistency during critical situations.​

What’s inside?

• Timeline & chronology of the incident​
• Entry points, system impact, and key insights​
• Containment and mitigation protocols​

Reflecting on the 2017 Equifax data breach, where delayed responses and communication breakdowns exacerbated the crisis, the importance of a well-structured incident report becomes evident. With Flipsnack, you can update reports in real time without altering the link, ensuring teams always access the latest version. Embed videos from security leads, add hyperlinks to forensic analyses, and facilitate swift searches for critical details—enhancing efficiency beyond traditional static PDFs.​

9. Crisis communication budget template 

Managing a crisis communication budget is about more than just tracking expenses—it’s about ensuring resources are deployed efficiently when every second counts. This crisis communication budget template helps teams allocate funds for PR efforts, stakeholder engagement, media monitoring, and emergency response, keeping the organization prepared and financially responsible.

What’s inside?

• Resource categories (personnel, communication tools, legal counsel, and more)
• Tracking and reporting expenses to optimize deployment
• Measuring impact to justify future budgets

With Flipsnack, you can bring team members from PR, finance, and crisis management together in one platform to collaborate on the crisis communication budget. No more outdated spreadsheets or lost email attachments—everyone works on the latest version, ensuring consistency across departments. Organize publications in dedicated bookshelves, making them easy to find and accessible only to authorized stakeholders through SSO-based secure sharing. 

10. Reputation management plan template

In reputation management, speed and consistency are everything. Whether you’re a PR agency handling crisis control or an internal corporate communications team protecting brand trust, this reputation management template helps structure your response. From identifying risks to managing social media backlash, it ensures that every message is clear, aligned, and timely—preventing misinformation from spiraling out of control.

What’s inside:

• Crisis escalation & response strategy
• Messaging framework for different crisis types
• Social media reputation management best practices
• Early warning systems & proactive monitoring tips

Because this document is highly sensitive, Flipsnack’s secure sharing ensures that only the right people have access. You can organize crisis materials in private bookshelves, collaborate across teams without messy email threads, and update messaging in real time—so there’s never an outdated version floating around. In a world where trust is fragile, having the right response framework makes all the difference.

Key takeaways of crisis communication

No business expects a crisis, but every company needs a clear communication strategy to respond effectively. Whether it’s a PR disaster, a security breach, or a social media backlash, the way you handle your crisis communication strategy can make or break your brand’s reputation.

With these 10 crisis communication plan templates, your business can react quickly, professionally, and consistently, without scrambling for outdated documents. And with Flipsnack, you can ensure your plans are always up to date, securely shared, and instantly accessible to the right people.

A crisis can hit at any time. Do you have the right communication plan in place?