The Growth Desk
Taking on new clients in Brisbane

Performance marketing in Brisbane, by one specialist

Google Ads, Meta ads and search for businesses that want to know what the money actually did. No account manager, no juniors, no lock-in contract. You get me, and I answer the phone.

Google Ads · Meta · ChatGPT ads · Demand Gen · SEO · AI search visibility · Websites

A staircase of green blocks with a gold sphere on the top step
Same budget, different structure6 months
Qualified leadsSpend
8+years in online marketing, starting with her father's business
Worldwideclients in retail, ecommerce and service businesses
1person on your account, start to finish. No handover.
0lock-in contracts, setup fees, or percentages of your spend
What I do

Eight things. You probably need two of them done properly.

Most agencies will sell you the full menu. The first conversation with me is about working out which two matter, and saying no to the rest until they do.

I would rather tell you your account is fine and lose the job than take a retainer for work you do not need.

Every engagement starts the same way. I open the account, work out what the numbers are actually counting, and say plainly what is wrong before I change anything. That first read is often the most useful thing I do, and it is sometimes uncomfortable reading.

After that it is one note a month. What changed, what it did, what I am doing next. Written so you could forward it to a business partner without translating it. No dashboard login you never open. No forty slide deck.

How it goes

The first ninety days

The same shape every time, because it works. Scroll and it draws itself.

Days 1 to 3

The free review

Read access to the account and Analytics. I send back what I found in plain language. If it is fine, that is the end of it and it cost you nothing.

Week 1

A fixed price, then tracking

One number for the month, agreed before I touch anything. Then the tracking gets fixed first, because there is no point tuning anything against numbers that are wrong.

Weeks 2 to 4

Structure, geography, ads

Campaigns rebuilt around intent. Negatives, service areas, landing pages. The unglamorous work that moves cost per lead.

Month 2

The first honest read

Enough data to say what a lead or a sale actually costs. Budget moves toward what is working and away from what looked busy.

Month 3

Steady state, and what next

One note a month from me. Then a real decision on whether Meta, Demand Gen or SEO earns a place beside it.

Ekaterina Mortelmans, founder of The Growth Desk
Who you are dealing with

It started with chandeliers

Ekaterina's first marketing job was selling her father's luxury chandeliers online. Expensive, specific, and bought by people who had to be found rather than waited for. That is still the job.

More than eight years on, she runs performance marketing for clients in retail, ecommerce and service businesses around the world, from Brisbane. Trained in Belgium under one of the country's leading digital marketing freelancers. A master's in pedagogy and Russian language from Moscow before any of it, which turns out to be useful, because explaining one thing clearly to someone who was not looking for it is most of marketing too.

Straight answers

The questions everybody asks first

What do you actually do?

Paid advertising, mostly Google and Meta, plus the search and AI visibility work that sits next to it. I do the work myself. There is no account manager passing your questions to somebody you have never met.

Do you work with businesses outside Brisbane?

Yes. Brisbane is home and a good share of the work is local, but an ad account does not care where it is managed from. Clients across Australia and overseas are normal.

How do you charge?

A fixed monthly fee based on how much work the account needs, agreed before anything starts. Not a percentage of your ad spend, because that would pay me to spend more of your money. You get the number up front.

Is there a lock-in contract?

No. Month to month. If the work is not paying for itself you should be able to walk, and I would rather earn the next month than have you sign for twelve.

What is the free account review?

You give me read access, or screenshots of the last ninety days. I read the account and write back with what is working, what is wasting money and what I would do first. Whether or not that turns into work. If it is fine, I say so.

Will you tell me if I do not need you?

Yes, and it happens. Sometimes an account needs one fix rather than a manager, and sometimes the problem is the website or the phone not being answered, not the ads. You get told that instead of being sold a retainer.

Free account review

Send me what you are running

A couple of lines about the business, roughly what you spend, and what is bothering you about it. You get an honest read back, usually the same day.

8am to 5pm AEST, Monday to Friday. I answer the phone myself, and if I am in the middle of something I ring back the same day.

  • Send read access to the account, or screenshots of the last ninety days.
  • I read it and write back in plain language: what is working, what is wasting money, what I would do first.
  • You decide. No pitch deck, no follow-up sequence. If the account is fine, I tell you that and we are done.