I don't think, article marketing is dead. Article marketing is a great way to deliver value to your list and to the audience you want to target in blogs, forums, websites in your niche, etc. The idea is to deliver over the top content to your audience, and position yourself as the expert in that particular subject matter that you are interested in. The biggest aim to market a product or service is to make yourself KNOWN, LIKED and TRUSTED by your audience. Once your audience LIKE KNOW and TRUST you, the sale takes place automatically without you thinking about it.
Article marketing is not dead. It is actually very useful if written in a useful and effective way. If your article is unique in content then off course your website can get more backlinks.