The biggest dilemma I had when I started crossing the $10,000 per month in ad spending was finding a card that would offer the best rates for my business spending.
My ads on Google were profitable and I was looking to scale my budgets quickly, but at point in time I was still using my business debit card which offered really low cashback (0.2%). Most local banks offer ratees of 0.2% – 0.4% on their corporate cards, which is significantly lower than personal credit card rebate rates.
(Read my post on the best corporate account here)
What About Personal Credit Cards?
As a sole proprietor at the time, I was also considering using personal credit cards for advertising to earn the rebates or miles, however this was met with a few problems:
- Most personal credit cards offer high rebates but have a cap on spending limit – this means that my ad spend of $10,000 a month not be fully utilized for rebates
- Many credit cards do not allow online advertising on Facebook and Google ads as part of their qualifying spending definition
Determined to make full use of my advertising spending to earn cashbacks I went out to research for the best card that would allow advertising on Facebook and Google ads, as well as give me the best cashback rate.
Thankfully, I managed to find something that met all of my needs! This review will show you my final recommendation for the best cashback card for marketing expenses and provide a closer comparison at the corporate cards in Singapore to help you that might suit your needs.
Aspire Corporate Card
Why Look At Cash Back Rates? How Significant Are They?
Cash backs are basically refunds of a small percentage on qualified spending on your card. Higher cash back rates equals to higher cash savings. This is especially so if you are spending are ramping up spending for your business.
Here’s a quick example:
If you have a monthly advertising spend of $15,000 on online advertising (Google Ads), a cashback rate of 1% would an extra $150 savings every month. This works up to $1,800 a year!
Comparison of Business Card Cash Rebates for Top Local Banks
| Bank | Annual Fee | Method | Cashback | Qualifying Expense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OCBC Business Debit Card | $0 | Mastercard | 0.2% | Business Expenses |
| DBS Visa Platinum Business Card | S$192.60 (1 year waiver) | Visa | 0.4% | Business Expenses |
| DBS Visa Business Advance Debit Card | $0 | Visa | 0.3% | Business Expenses |
| UOB Business Debit Card | $0 | Mastercard | 0.3% | Business Expenses |
| Aspire Corporate Card | $0 | Visa | 1.0% | Online advertising & marketing software (SaaS) |
Aspire offers the highest cashback rate of 1.0% which is more than twice the rates of other local banks, this is limited to online advertising and marketing software. If you spend a significant amount of ads every month and are looking to scale them, then this is the best cashback rate on the market at the moment!
The Best Cashback Corporate Card for Marketing
My choice for best cashback card for marketing expenses is without a doubt the Aspire Corporate Card, because it offers the best cashback rates. At my current PPC spend of around $20,000 – $30,000 a month, this works up to $200-$300 savings a month.
The qualifying expenses include advertising spend on:
as well as spending on other popular marketing software (SaaS) like Shopify, Amazon Web Services, Mailchimp, Quickbooks, Salesforce, Xero, Hubspot, etc, with a growing list of eligbile software.
Note: Limited to Marketing Expenses
The only caveat is that Aspire’s Corporate Card is focused on business marketing expenses only. Do note that this means other business expenses like buying inventory, paying supplier invoices, are NOT registered as qualified expenses.
You Can Have More Than One Corporate Card
Why not have more than one card for your business spending!
If you spend a significant amount of money on online advertising every month, it makes perfect sense to get the Aspire corporate card and enjoy the 1% cashback. The great thing is that there is no minimum deposit in Aspire’s corporate account and no annual fees so you can top up any amount that you want to spend on marketing every month.
At the same time, you can still have another business debit card with one of the local banks. From the comparison, DBS Visa Platinum Business Card offers the highest cash rebate of 0.4% which is great if the bulk of your business expenses isn’t just on online advertising. They do charge an annual fee of $192.60 so it only makes sense if you have very large business spending.
For myself, I actually use the Aspire Corporate Card for my online spend and my OCBC business card (0.2% rebate) for all my other business expenses.
In this way you can also segregate your business and marketing spending in 2 seperate accounts as well as MAXIMIZE the cashback rates (and hence cost savings) for your business!