An application answers one funder's questions. A strategy decides which funders are asked, in what order, and with what already in place.
Applications are tactical. They are bounded by a form, a deadline and a set of criteria, and they can be executed well or badly.
Strategy operates a level above: which routes exist, which are realistic now, which become realistic once something else lands, and what the consequences are of approaching them out of order.
The distinction matters because certain applications are worth far more once a prior step is complete. Submitting them first spends the opportunity at its lowest value.
A project with a strategy submits fewer applications and loses fewer of them.