This post was going to be a direct refutation of the assertion by Rick Segal, President of GyroHSR, that B2B marketing is obsolete. But before rereading the B2B Magazine article, “Is B2B Marketing Really Obsolete? ^[2]” by Sean Callahan, I did a quick Google search [B2B marketing is dead] to see what others had to say.

The search results ^[3] made me laugh. Here I thought I was being way cool and timely and following David Meerman Scott’s advice with regard to real time marketing ^[4] . . . . and dozens of people have already beaten Mr. Segal to the punch.

Judging by the search results, everything is dead, from traditional marketing and white papers to SEO. (Whether Elvis is dead is questionable ^[5].)

Here’s the deal: B2B marketing is definitely NOT dead! B2B marketing is alive and well and thriving, thank you very much.

What is dead, however, is the ability for high-overhead agencies and clueless consultants to pass on crappy marketing advice — and then charge mega dollars for it (case in point: an SEO firm charging $4,000 a month for regurgitated Google Analytics reports, cough, cough).

Why is that? Because now everything is measurable. In the old days you could get away with suggesting a huge ad spend in trade journals and then design image ads where you can’t even read the URL ^[6] and even worse, sending people to the home page versus a (trackable) landing page. Not anymore ducks.

(The above link goes to a great Chasers column in B2B Magazine about print being the doorway to the Web. Be sure to read it.)

What do you think? Is B2B marketing dead or do you agree with me that it’s alive and thriving? Leave your thoughts below.

(Image by Frances Ellen Speaks! ^[7])