Crisis Communication Plan Memo AI Prompt
When a crisis hits, clarity and speed matter. Leaders often struggle to align stakeholders, set decision rights, and communicate next steps under pressure. You don’t have time for vague drafts or generic statements that create confusion. You need a concise, actionable plan that guides teams within minutes. A strong prompt gets you there fast. It adds context, aligns tone, and enforces structure so you can brief your org and board with confidence. AskSmarter.ai helps you turn a vague request into a precise, high-signal prompt by asking the right questions first—audience, channels, constraints, and goals. With the right inputs, you’ll generate a crisis memo that clarifies owners, timelines, and risks in one read. That means less chaos and faster execution.
The transformation
Before — Vague prompt
Write a memo about a crisis we’re dealing with and what to do.
After — Optimized prompt
You are the Chief of Staff. Draft a crisis communication plan memo.
- Context: Payment outage affecting 18% of transactions in North America since 07:20 ET.
- Audience: Exec team, managers, board.
- Goals: Align on status, owners, timeline, risks, messaging.
- Tone: Calm, accountable, transparent.
- Structure: Summary, impact, root-cause hypothesis, actions by function (Eng, Support, Comms, Legal), decision log, next update time.
- Constraints: 600 words max, time stamps, responsible DRI per action, 3 key risks with mitigations.
- Include: Internal and external comms snippets for first hour.
Why this works
The after prompt works because it adds the missing ingredients leaders need in a crisis. It provides:
- Clarity: It names the role (Chief of Staff), sets the tone, and defines the goal of the memo.
- Context: It specifies the incident (payment outage, scope, start time, region), which shapes actions and messaging.
- Structure: It requires a clear outline—summary, impact, hypothesis, actions, decision log, and update cadence—so readers can scan and act.
- Accountability: It forces DRIs, timestamps, and word limits, which drive focus and ownership.
- Audience targeting: It names execs, managers, and the board, ensuring depth without fluff and appropriate transparency.
AskSmarter.ai’s question-first flow captures these details through guided prompts about audience, incident scope, functions involved, and communication channels. That turns a vague request into a precise brief that produces a usable memo on the first pass, saving time when it matters most.
When to use this prompt
Marketing Leaders
Prepare coordinated messaging for customers and press within the first hour, aligned with legal and product constraints.
Product Managers
Create a cross-functional action plan that clarifies technical hypotheses, rollbacks, and timelines to resolution.
Customer Success Directors
Align frontline teams with approved talking points, escalation paths, and update cadence for top accounts.
Founders/CEOs
Brief the board with a transparent, time-stamped plan that shows control, risks, and next decision points.
Operations Leaders
Document DRIs, incident command structure, and post-incident review steps to stabilize and prevent recurrence.
Pro tips
- 1
Specify the incident scope and metrics so actions match impact (e.g., % affected, regions, start time).
- 2
Define decision rights and DRIs to reduce confusion during handoffs and approvals.
- 3
Set update cadence and channels to prevent ad-hoc pings and inconsistent messages.
- 4
Include sample internal and external snippets to ensure immediate, consistent communication.
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Build a prompt for your situation
This example shows the pattern. AskSmarter.ai guides you to create prompts tailored to your specific context, audience, and goals.