325. Your Agency + Small Businesses = Big Opportunities, with Aya Kikimova

On this episode of The Innovative Agency Podcast Sharon Toerek welcomes Aya Kikimova, Founder and CEO of LeapEngine, for a conversation that hits directly at one of the biggest questions agency leaders are wrestling with today: How do you build a profitable, innovative marketing practice while serving small and midsize businesses for clients who need high-quality work but often operate with leaner resources? 

Aya shares her intentional journey from working with major enterprise brands, both at top agencies and inside Microsoft, to crafting a service model purpose-built for entrepreneurial companies. She describes the real-world challenges of pricing for smaller clients, preserving healthy margins, and structuring teams in a way that's both scalable and sustainable.

And we go deeper into how AI is reshaping expectations on both sides of the table, what it makes possible, where the pitfalls are, and how it can help agencies deliver more value without compromising quality.

What you will learn in this episode: 

• How agencies can profitably serve small and mid-sized businesses without sacrificing margins or quality

• The structural shifts required to make affordable, high-impact marketing accessible to smaller clients

• Ways to package and price services for SMBs, and the pitfalls of over-customization

• Why client acquisition looks different for entrepreneurial companies compared to big brands, and how to adjust your sales process

• What small business clients really ask for (and misunderstand) when it comes to marketing services

• How AI is changing agency delivery models and pricing, and what that means for the future of marketing services

• Strategies agencies can use to avoid the "race to the bottom" in pricing while building trust and lasting relationships

Bio

Aya Kikimova is the Founder and CEO of LeapEngine, a digital marketing agency that brings Fortune 500-level strategy to startups and small businesses at a fraction of the cost. Born in Kazakhstan and immigrating to the U.S. at 16 as a first-generation immigrant, Aya's journey is one of resilience and determination, she arrived not even knowing how to type on a computer but pushed forward to earn her MBA in Marketing and Finance and build a distinguished career spanning global advertising agencies, brand-side leadership, and Big Tech.

Before founding LeapEngine in 2021, Aya spent six years at Microsoft managing over $50M annually in ad spend for Fortune 500 companies including P&G, Macy's, Estée Lauder, Nestle, Comcast, and AT&T. Her data-driven approach and exceptional performance earned her Microsoft's prestigious Platinum Club award, recognition given to the top 0.01% of the company. Today, she combines her Big Tech expertise with entrepreneurial grit, having built LeapEngine from scratch during the pandemic as a new mom, without outside funding, into a thriving agency that has generated over $100M in revenue for clients across 100+ businesses.

Resources:

• Website: https://leapengine.co/ 

• Linkedin Personal: https://www.linkedin.com/in/akikimova/

• LinkedIn Business: https://www.linkedin.com/company/leapengine/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leapengine.co/