By simply existing, brands are vulnerable to the possibility of becoming unintentionally involved in unfortunate situations and conversations. And when a crisis strikes, it can be a paralyzing experience.

To ensure that you’re not scrambling to figure out your next steps when this happens, we recommend putting into place (and keeping up-to-date) a fully executable crisis comms plan. This way, you’ll have greater confidence in your damage control efforts, allowing you to act quickly and get back to business as usual.

Use this checklist to build a crisis communications plan that will get your business through everything from crisis blips to catastrophes.