When it comes to conferences targeting the female consumer, one of the largest is the M2W Conference, which will take place in Chicago on April 21 & 22. Now in its sixth year, it draws marketers and business folks from across the country.

I had a chance to interview Nan McCann, president of PME Enterprises and producer of the M2W conference, and thought I’d share her thoughts on plans for the upcoming event and trends in the arena of marketing to women.

MM: Congratulations on this being the 6th year of the M2W Conference! What was the impetus for getting the conference off the ground six years ago?

Thanks Michele!  Here’s how it happened. We had been producing a conference for JWT for a number of years called Beyond The Numbers. It focused on marketing to 50+ consumers. In 2004 I was talking to Marti Barletta about her speaking role at that event and in passing asked if she knew of any marketing to women conferences in the U.S. I said we had done our homework, researching meetings and events and didn’t see a thing. Marti said, “That’s because there are none!”  I was flabbergasted. Here we were in a new millennium with women emerging as the most powerful consumer group and yet no marketing association had heard the drums! So I asked Marti, “If we launched a Marketing To Women Conference next year, would you be the Chair?” In effusive Marti-style she roared “yes” and one year later M2W® opened to enthusiastic response!

That decision changed our company. Our focus on the female gender and helping brands build business and market share is what truly defines our work. From M2W®, that same year we launched M2Moms®…The Marketing to Moms Conference and last fall, M2W®-HC™…The Conference for Marketing Healthcare to Women. It also led us to develop Good And Green®…The Green Marketing Conference, because women are truly the consumers who drive that market movement. In 2011 we will be launching another B2B event that focuses on women with a more global imperative.

MM: What are a couple of the biggest changes you’ve seen in the agenda/mission of the conference over the last six years?

In addition to the growth in our attendance as well as in the number of brands that participate on our stage, M2W® has continued to evolve with the ever-changing needs of female consumers and the new ways in which brands are learning to connect with them. Overall, the biggest change in our content and conversations has moved from the area of WHY we should be marketing to women to HOW we can effectively engage them with our brands.

It’s really astonishing to me when I think back to that very first M2W®. So many brand leaders and marketing executives had no idea the size and influence of the women’s market. They still looked at women consumers as ‘niche marketing’ even though women were the majority of their customers and driving the majority of all purchasing decisions across all categories.

We have come a long way in our marketing to women strategies and initiatives and with each and every year, we learn more about our consumers, we adapt to changes in technology and we continue to move in new and exciting directions.

MM: Speaking quite a bit as I do, I’m always interested in the number of men who attend conferences on female consumers. Have you seen a shift in number, and is there greater acceptance of women as the mainstream consumer?

Definitely. Although our audience continues to primarily be women executives, every year we see more men in attendance as well as on our stage representing their brands, media and agencies. What has really changed over the years is the number of brands from traditionally “male categories” that are now seeing women as the mainstream consumer. Sony, General Motors, Best Buy, H&R Block, MassMutual, Memorex, MasterCard, Genworth, Ford Motor Company are just some of the brands that have continued to send representatives to M2W® to gain insight into their female customers. These brands have discovered that—paraphrasing Marti Barletta who will also be keynoting during this year’s conference—by meeting the needs of women you actually exceed the needs of men.

A great example is one of this year’s speakers, Garry Rosenfeldt of Midas. He is bringing a really great story to our stage about how a corporate-wide policy shift toward designing, implementing and sustaining a superior customer experience not only addressed the needs of the woman customer, but also lifted the entire brand along the way.

MM: Are there any new trends (for example, the last couple of years, there’s been more emphasis on social media) that business owners and marketers should be keeping an eye out for?

It’s no longer just about the messaging, but about creating products, services and superior customer service experiences that women not only need, but want. Toward that goal, the biggest trends I am seeing now are:

Social Media

Social media continues to be a major topic of interest—our Pre-Con Workshop this year is focused on how social media helps convert women from customers to brand evangelists–but we are beginning to see a shift in the dialogue. We have moved beyond just talking about the tools and rules of engagement and are now looking at how this affects the actual relationship brands have with their female consumers—online and offline. We have several different sessions during this year’s M2W® that speak to this trend such as the panel led by Ketchum’s Kelley Skoloda that shows how brands have used social media to really listen to what women are saying and have adapted their products and strategies to better succeed with their female consumers. Or, the presentation by Harbinger Communications on how social media has affected WOM marketing.

Millennials-Gen Y

We are continuing to hear more about Millennials and the influence they have with today’s brands. M2W® Workshop presenter Heidi Dangelmaier, founder of 3iying and GirlApproved, has some amazing insight into this demographic and how this new generation of women is not only changing the way we market to women, but they’re fundamentally changing the way we think, research and create.

Working Women/Female Entrepreneurs

Studies show that women will soon outpace men in the workforce, which brings an entirely new chapter to the marketing to women playbook. While this certainly means women will have even more financial clout when it comes to their household spending, it also opens up new conversations such as how companies can effectively market themselves to potential female employees or how to engage female entrepreneurs with your brand. M2W® speaker Michele DeKinder-Smith of Jane Out of the Box, recently told me that 1/3 of today’s businesses are owned by women, but these women became business owners for different reasons. We need to understand what those differences are with women throughout the workforce and not move them into one singular niche category.

Multicultural Women

I don’t know if this is so much a trend as an imperative. Over the past several years, authors such as Pepper Miller (‘What’s Black About It?’) and Miriam Muley (‘The 85% Niche’) have brought ethnicity into the forefront of marketing to women discussions and strategies at our conferences. We have also featured several brands—most notably Procter & Gamble— on the M2W® stage sharing their insights into how they have been able to successfully connect with multicultural women and what that connection has done to improve their overall bottom line results. With continued U.S. growth in the Hispanic, Black and Asian population of women, brands need to invest significant time and energy into truly understanding the various ethnic and cultural groups that are becoming a major part of their female consumer base.

In addition, we are seeing more and more countries change their perception of women and giving women more social, economic and political power. This changes the playing field for any brand looking to connect with women outside of the U.S. and is certain to enlarge our overall marketing to women conversations. Author Fara Warner is actually working on a new book about the growing power of women worldwide in the 21^st century and will be giving us some insight into what she has already discovered (as well as what we still need to learn) during her M2W® presentation.

MM: What do you think is the biggest challenge in marketing to women today?

It’s satisfying to look back over the past 6 years of M2W® and see the progress we have made as brands and marketers when it comes to meeting the needs of female consumers. But, there are still so many brands that view women as a niche or include them as part of their “diversity marketing” programs. As an example, it’s shocking to observe how quickly major brands have dropped women as a primary consumer target in this economic downturn! To me it’s further evidence that in many organizations, a commitment to women consumers (who account for 80-85% of purchasing across all product categories) is a mile wide and an inch deep! This kind of behavior demonstrates we still have work to do. Brands that neglect female consumers neglect a significant competitive advantage.

I think our greatest challenge for moving forward is to show brands and marketers that by addressing the needs of women, they are really improving upon their overall influence with all consumers—male or female. Marketing to women is not a trend discussion; it’s a business discussion—about building relationships that will help your company thrive. In my opinion, women are the future of brands and economic growth.

Many thanks to Nan McCann for taking the time to give us some fresh insight into marketing to women.  If you find yourself in the Chicago area April 21 & 22, be sure to check out the conference.