Ask a person what they value and you’ll get all sorts of answers. There are literally hundreds of value-related words, and the boundaries between each can be unclear. Is ‘honesty’ the same as ‘sincerity’? And how are we to define when one value becomes another?

Enter Shalom Schwartz. In his groundbreaking theory of values, Professor Schwartz showed that many of our values are interlinked. In fact, you can organise human values into 10 separate categories – categories that emerge time and time again across more than 50 different cultures and countries. These are the basic values, and they represent the content of the human value system.

Some of these values complement, others conflict. So someone who values ‘achievement’ and is ‘power-driven’ is unlikely to also value ‘benevolence’ and ‘universal equality.’ In other words, values have a clear structure that exists across cultures.

Values play a large role in our lives; from influencing what we study at university to guiding our choice of career.

Most interestingly for us marketers, they have an integral role in customer choice. Not only do they dictate the favouring of one product over another; they determine our satisfaction with what we buy – and therefore our likelihood of buying it again. For example people who value ‘universalism’ will not only favour an eco-friendly toothpaste, but also believe it is tastier and more effective than its rival - even when both products are otherwise identical.

The best influencers have channels that are basically public displays of their values. They discuss and sell what’s important to them, and their followers gather because they recognise a fundamental value-match. In short, the influencer is authentic and their followers know it.

But how can brands pick influencers who best match their values? And can we truly get away from ‘authenticity’ as a mere buzzword?

Schwartz’s theory of values allows us at Tailify to quantify a match’s calibre and to match-make based on these measures. No longer are we in the dark about the nature of authenticity. As far as the science is concerned, it’s being true to one’s values – and this can be expressed numerically, to the degree that brand and influencer values are in sync. Using validated surveys, and drawing on the rich psychology of values, we can target the traits that matter. Yes, there may be hundreds of values (and a thousand means of getting at them!) but with Schwartz’s basic values, and the accompanying psychometric tools, we can reach those with verified links to behaviour – and tap into decades of knowledge.

It’s like a dating service for brands. Removing the guesswork of matchmaking by calculating and comparing your values.