Brand vs Branding, what's the difference.

You can’t build a brand without the foundations, stuff like ideas, purpose, beliefs, products, but you also don’t HAVE a brand if there are no feelings, meaning, or associations around it (helped shaped over time by its customers but also by the brand strategy) And that stuff takes time to develop.
Brand strategy, then, is all about the articulation of the brand: its identity, purpose, values, personality, etc, through tactics like storytelling, messaging, and experiences. And crucially, the process of building associations and feelings that help shape the customers’ perceptions.