Phil Risher reframes what brand means: not what people say about you, but who you actually are. Your brand is an identity scale that connects you to clients through the impact you want to make and the stories people tell about your team.
Seth Godin says, your brand is what people say about you when you're not around. There's a lot of validity in that, but I think that your brand is much more about you as well than a lot of people make it. It's kind of like a bridge from who you are to the client. Branding is this identity scale. What do you stand for? What is the one thing that makes you different from all the other companies that your competitors think you're stupid for even doing? What are the stories that you want people to tell about you and your team members to know and talk about with your clients? What impact are you trying to make? What is the essence of who you are? That's kind of what your brand is.
