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During a crisis, it's too late to plan. To protect your company's reputation and maintain ownership of its message, you need to have a crisis communications plan in place before it is needed. And since fast-moving events should be met with just as rapid a response, the plan needs to rely heavily on the Web and other electronic communications tools.

Solution
A good crisis plan incorporates a mix of tools to deliver complex information in clear, easy-to-understand formats. The mix should include a backup microsite, already templated and in place, as well as a content management framework, so that the site can be updated instantly. It should include a broader electronic communications map, so that you can get your message out to the media and other stakeholders immediately, through email and presentations. And the IT department should have contingency plans to allow for additional server capacity, since traffic will surge. Other resources also need to be in place, for example translators, in case content needs to be delivered in multiple languages.

Results
In a crisis, timely information is a rare and precious commodity. Many audiences are clamoring for news, and they pass along whatever they can find — even if it's inaccurate. To protect your reputation, and your stakeholders, you need to do everything you can to control the message.

So plan for a crisis. Or risk that, when the crisis hits, the crisis itself will be in control.